Labor & Employment

Amends the Workers' Compensation Act. Provides that, on and after July 1, 2026, if a public employer files a petition to review an award of an arbitrator of the Commission, the award shall draw interest, retroactive to the date of the injury, at a rate equal to 10% or at a rate equal to the yield on indebtedness issued by the United States Government with a 26-week maturity next previously auctioned on the day on which the decision is filed, whichever is greater. Sets forth limitations on interest assessed under the provision. Defines "public employer". Effective July 1, 2026.

Amends the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall conduct, in consultation with the Department of Labor, a comprehensive study to identify strategies to protect jobs that are at risk of loss due to artificial intelligence. Provides that the study shall include specified recommendations and analysis. Effective immediately.

Amends the Energy Community Reinvestment Act. In provisions concerning the Displaced Energy Worker Dependent Transition Scholarship, provides that a student may receive a scholarship under those provisions for a period that is equivalent to 4 years of full-time enrollment, including summer terms (currently, one calendar year of full-time enrollment, including summer terms). Provides that the displaced energy worker must have lost his or her employment while a resident of Illinois to be eligible for the scholarship program. Effective July 1, 2026.

SB 2841 amends Illinois' Line of Duty Compensation Act to include animal control officers and animal wardens as eligible for benefits if killed while performing their duties. The bill updates the law's definitions to explicitly add these roles to the list of covered public safety workers, which previously included law enforcement officers and firefighters. This change ensures animal control staff - responsible for managing animal-related public safety risks - receive the same death benefit coverage as other first responders. The bill does not alter existing eligibility conditions (e.g., death must occur within one year of injury from violence or accident), but expands the scope of covered personnel.

Amends the Construction Site Temporary Restroom Facility Act. Changes the Act's short title to the Construction Site Temporary Restroom Facility and Sanitary Conditions for Menstruation and Lactation Act. Repeals a provision which specifies that separate toileting facilities are not required for males and females if individual portable toilet facilities are used by an owner of a portable building or building under construction to provide access to a restroom. Provides that, if a woman or an individual who menstruates is present on a work site and there are 10 or more workers of any gender at the work site, then a separate toilet facility shall be provided at the work site and designated for use by women and individuals who menstruate. Requires the Department of Labor to adopt rules that govern construction safety standards, that apply only to employers in the construction industry, and that require employers in the construction industry to provide their workers who menstruate and are performing construction activities at a work site with minimum sanitary conditions and, upon request, to provide their workers who are lactating and are performing construction activities at a work site with reasonable accommodations necessary to express breast milk. Provides that, at multi-employer work sites, each employer is responsible for ensuring that facilities for their own workers are provided. Authorizes employees of construction sites to call the certified local public health agency to request an inspection of the construction site if noncompliance with the Act is suspected. Effective immediately.

Creates the Secure Jobs Act. Establishes a framework for employee discipline and discharge. Prohibits the unjust discharge of an employee. Contains provisions concerning factors to be considered when determining whether an employee has been discharged for just cause and the conditions that allow for a discharge based on bona fide economic reasons. Requires employers to use progressive discipline measures. Limits the use of electronic monitoring. Provides for severance pay. Directs the Department of Labor to adopt rules and administer the Act. Provides statutory remedies for wrongfully discharged employees and authorizes the recovery of damages. Creates the Wrongful Discharge Enforcement Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Effective January 1, 2027.

Provides that the Act may be referred to as the Health Care at Home Workforce Protection Act. Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides for enhancement of assault or battery to aggravated assault or aggravated battery under certain circumstances if the person knows that the individual assaulted or battered is a health care at home provider or the health care at home provider's family or household members. Creates the offense of threatening a health care at home provider. Provides that a person commits the offense when: (1) that person knowingly delivers or conveys, directly or indirectly, to a health care at home provider by any means a communication containing a threat that would place that person or a member of his or her immediate family in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint; (2) at the time of the threat, the person knows or should have known that the victim is a health care at home provider or is an immediate family member of a health care at home provider; (3) the threat was conveyed because of an action taken by the health care at home provider acting in his or her employment or volunteer capacity or because of the victim's professional or employment status; (4) there is no consent by the person threatened; and (5) the threat contains specific facts indicative of a unique threat to the health care at home provider or his or her immediate family and not a generalized threat of harm. Provides that threatening a health care at home provider is a Class 4 felony for a first offense and a Class 3 felony for a second or subsequent offense. Defines "health care at home provider".

Amends the Prevailing Wage Act. In the definition of "public works", includes installation, repair, wiring, and maintenance services to Illinois lottery machines and equipment pursuant to a contract between the Department of the Lottery and a contractor. Effective January 1, 2027.

Amends the Genetic Information Privacy Act. Provides that the use of genetic testing, biomarker testing, or both (rather than only genetic testing), and the information derived from testing is confidential and privileged and may be released only to the individual tested and persons specifically authorized in writing by the individual tested to receive the information. Provides that an insurer may not seek information derived from genetic or biomarker testing (rather than only genetic testing) for use in connection with a policy of accident or health insurance (unless the individual voluntarily submits the results and the results are favorable to the individual), for nontherapeutic purposes, or for underwriting purposes. In provisions concerning the use of testing information by employers, provides that an employer may release genetic testing or biomarker testing information (rather than only genetic testing information) under specified circumstances. Limits an employer's use of genetic information, genetic testing, biomarkers, and biomarker testing (rather than only genetic information and genetic testing). In provisions concerning testing, provides that no person may disclose or be compelled to disclose the identity of any person upon whom a genetic test or biomarker test (rather than only genetic test) is performed or the results of a genetic test or biomarker test (rather than only genetic test) in a manner that permits identification of the subject of the test, except to the persons specified in the Act. Limits the concurrent exercise of home rule powers. Defines "biomarker" and "biomarker testing". Makes other and conforming changes.

HB 4632 appropriates $500,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) to fund the Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program. This program directly helps Illinois nurse educators who teach in nursing programs by repaying their qualifying student loans. The funding becomes available starting July 1, 2026, to support these educators in the state's healthcare workforce. The bill is a straightforward funding measure with no new policy requirements beyond the allocated resources.