Illinois, in its quest toward curbing sexual harassment in the workplace, has amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to require annual disclosures of sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination in the work place. Employers must make annual disclosures to the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) with information about adverse judgments or administrative rulings against them in the prior year. The new law requires that employers provide formal disclosures to the IDHR in 2020 where the employer has had at least one adverse determination of sexual harassment or unlawful discrimination in the prior year.
Employers Must Make Annual Disclosures of Sexual Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination
Beginning July 1, 2020, employers must make annual disclosures to the Illinois Department of Human Rights including information about administrative ruling and adverse judgments from the prior year. The mandatory disclosures must include the number of administrative rulings and adverse judgments, whether an employee obtained equitable relief, and a breakdown of the ruling and judgment. If the IDHR is investigating a charge filed under the Illinois Human Rights Act, it may require disclosure of similar information about an employer’s settlements over the past five years of alleged sexual harassment or unlawful discrimination occurring in the workplace.
The IDHR will compile the reported information for publication in an annual report, but it will aggregate individual data to avoid exposing personal information.
Employers who do not comply with these disclosure requirements could face civil penalties.
Partner Kristin Tauras of McKenna Storer has analyzed and written about the significant changes made in 2019 – 2020 to the Illinois Human Rights Act and other laws governing the workplace. You may be interested in reading her recent articles about these important changes impacting Illinois employers:
- New Laws Governing Employee Arbitration Clauses
- Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training
- Hotel and Casino Safety Act
- Illinois Workplace Transparency Act and its impact on Sexual Harassment Nondisclosure and Nondisparagement Clauses
- New Sexual Harassment Protections (Public Act 101-0221)
Kristin Tauras devotes her practice to guiding and representing employers with employment law or employment litigation matters, please contact her with any questions concerning these areas of law.