Over 300 new laws go into effect in Illinois on January 1, 2025. These new laws cover areas such as the Illinois Human Rights Act, new pay transparency requirements, changes to personnel record access, employee access to pay records, and limitations on restrictive covenants for the mental health industry.

 

The following are the top ten laws impacting CPAs and their clients in the coming year.

1. HB 5561: Employees are protected from retaliation for exposing workplace practices they believe violate the law. [Public Act 103-0867] 

 

2. SB 2764: Businesses offering free trials longer than 15 days must email customers three days before the cancellation deadline. [Public Act 103-0919] 

 

3. HB 3129—New Pay Transparency Requirements: Requires job postings to contain certain pay and benefits information for employers with 15 or more employees to include pay scale and benefits information in every job posting. [Public Act 103-0539] 

 

4. HB 3763—Illinois Personnel Records Access Law: Expands the types of personnel records that must be produced to employees and imposes penalties for violations. [Public Act 103-0727] 

 

5. SB 3208—Pay Stub Record Keeping and Access Requirements: Requires employers to provide an employee with copies of their pay stubs within 21 calendar days of their request, up to twice in any 12-month period, including during the 12-month period following their separation from employment. [Public Act 103-0953] 

 

6. SB 508: Prevents an employer from imposing work authorization verification requirements greater than those required by federal law and bars employers from taking any adverse action against the employee based on receipt of notification. 

[Public Act 103-0879] 

 

7. SB 2765: Allows courts to pierce the corporate veil of LLCs to hold members of the LLC personally liable for the debts, obligations, and liabilities of the company. 

[Public Act 103-0920] 

 

8. SB 2930: Requires charitable organizations that annually report $1 million or more in grants to other charitable organizations to disclose on their public facing websites, if one exists, the aggregate demographic data of their boards of directors. 

[Public Act 103-0635] 

 

9. SB 3362: Subjects retailers that maintain a place of business in Illinois to the Retailer’s Occupation Tax for sales made outside of the State of Illinois to consumers fulfilled from inventory located outside of the state. [Public Act 103-0983] 

 

10. HB 5561: Prohibits employers from taking retaliatory action against an employee who discloses, or threatens to disclose, information related to an activity, policy, or practice of the employer if the employee has a good faith belief that it violates state law. 

[Public Act 103-0867]

Aside from the top 10 summary above, the Senate Democratic Caucus has comprised a comprehensive listing of bills that have an effective date of January 1, 2025. You can get additional information on listed legislative items of interest by accessing the Illinois General Assembly website and searching by House or Senate Bill Number. You can also access the ICPAS Government Relations legislative tracking reports for additional working notes on bills that were tracked during the spring legislative session. See additional employment law information in the National Law Review.

 

The Illinois General Assembly is scheduled to return to the Capitol on January 4, 2025, for four days of lame duck session. The 103rd General Assembly will adjourn sine die on January 7, and the new 104th General Assembly will convene on January 8. Of the 177 members of the House and Senate, there will be six new members joining this January.

 

The Illinois CPA Society’s Government Relations Office will continue to keep you updated on legislative developments and areas of interest through Capitol Insight, postings on the Government Relations landing page of the ICPAS website, special legislative updates and Insight Magazine.