Amendments to the Personnel Records Review Act

By Sonal Shah, JD, Assistant Director, Employment Law Services
Published September 10, 2024

The Illinois state legislature has been busy this summer imposing new legal requirements on employers. Their latest action involves an amendment to the Illinois Personnel Records Review Act (the “Act”). Effective January 1, 2025, the Act requires and/or clarifies:

• Specific procedures for employees to follow when requesting personnel records.
• Requests for personnel records should be made in writing, which includes requests made via email or text message.
• Employees may request personnel records related to their benefits, any contracts or agreements that were binding on the employee, any handbooks that were made available to the employee or which the employee acknowledged receiving, and any policies or procedures that the employee was subject to which related to qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action.
• Employees must sign a waiver if requesting medical information or records be released to a representative of the employee.
• Records related to the organization’s trade secrets, client lists, sales projections, and financial data do not have to be provided in response to an employee’s request for personnel records.
• Employees may file a lawsuit against the organization if the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) does not resolve their complaint under the Act within 180 days of the date the complaint was made to IDOL.

As a reminder, the Act has and continues to require that employers produce any personnel records which are, have been, or are intended to be used in determining an employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action. These records should generally be provided to employees within seven working days of the request. An organization must grant at least two requests from an employee in a calendar year for the inspection, copy, or production of personnel records. The organization may charge for the cost of copying the requested materials, but the fee is limited to the actual cost of duplication.

For information on how long these and other employment-related documents should be maintained, HR Source members can view our Field Guide to Employee Record Retention. Members may also download a sample Personnel Records Request form for employees to complete. Contact us with questions at the HR Hotline Online or at 800-448-4584.