ATTENTION ILLINOIS EMPLOYERS: Are you compliant with the 2023 employment law changes?
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Patricia Tsipras
January 11, 2023
Illinois’s Legislature has enacted several laws that will impact your workplace this year. Below is a brief summary of some of those laws:
- Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (CROWN). In 2021, Illinois enacted the Jett Hawkins Act to ban hairstyle discrimination in Illinois schools. The Act was named after a four-year-old child who was cited at school for being out of dress code because he wore his hair in braids. Effective January 1, 2023, Illinois’s CROWN Act expands on the Jett Hawkins Act by offering hair texture and hairstyles protection in areas besides schools, including workplaces. Specifically, the CROWN Act amends the definition of “race” in the Illinois Human Rights Act to include “traits associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists.” See 2021 Ill. SB 3616.
- Family Bereavement Leave. Illinois’s Child Bereavement Leave Act allows parents and guardians to take leave after the loss of a biological or adopted child, a foster placement, or a stepchild. Effective January 1, 2023, Illinois’s Family Bereavement Leave Act (FBLA) amended the Child Bereavement Act to extend unpaid leave (up to two weeks or 10 working days within 60 days of the qualifying event) to employees (or their spouses or partners) who experience a miscarriage, an unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or other assisted reproductive procedure, a failed or non-finalized adoption match, a failed surrogacy agreement, a diagnosis affecting fertility, or a stillbirth. The FBLA also provides for leave following the loss of a spouse, domestic partner, sibling, grandparent, or stepparent. All employers covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act are covered employers under the FBLA. See 2021 Ill. SB 3120.
- One Day Rest in Seven. Illinois’s One Day Rest in Seven Act, effective January 1, 2023, gives workers the right to at least 24 consecutive hours of rest in each consecutive seven-day period. The Act further requires at least a 20-minute meal period for every 7.5-hour shift, beginning no later than five hours after the start of the shift, with an additional 20-minute meal period for shifts of 12 hours or longer. In addition to meal periods, reasonable restroom breaks must be provided. See 2021 Ill. SB 3146.
Contact counsel to discuss how these laws may impact your workplace.
*Special thanks to Brooke Palma, our Office Administrator, for her contributions to this article.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, Illinois, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
