Illinois Human Rights Act amendments on AI in employment (HB 3773, Public Act 103-0804)

What it is

Public Act 103-0804, passed as House Bill 3773 and signed on 9 August 2024, amends the Illinois Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5) to deal with artificial intelligence in employment. It took effect on 1 January 2026. The operative provision is a new subsection (L) of section 2-102, which lists civil rights violations by employers.

Illinois already regulated one narrow AI use. The Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42) has required notice, explanation and consent for AI analysis of video interviews since 2020. The Human Rights Act amendments are much broader, covering any AI used in a wide range of employment decisions.

Who it applies to

The amendments apply to employers covered by the Human Rights Act. For these provisions that means anyone employing one or more people in Illinois for 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and the Human Rights Commission’s guidance confirms it reaches state entities and labour organisations as well as private employers. Having no physical location in Illinois does not take an employer outside it if it employs people there.

The Act defines artificial intelligence broadly, as a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from the input it receives how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. It expressly includes generative AI.

The decisions covered are recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure, and the terms, privileges or conditions of employment.

What it requires

Subsection 2-102(L) makes three things a civil rights violation.

Discriminatory effect. Using AI in any of those decisions in a way that has the effect of subjecting employees to discrimination on the basis of a protected class under the Act. The Act’s protected classes include race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, age and disability, and reach further than federal law. The test is effect, not intent.

Zip codes as a proxy. Using zip codes as a proxy for a protected class. Location data is not banned, but using it to stand in for, say, race is.

Notice. Failing to give notice to an employee that the employer is using AI for these purposes. The statute leaves the circumstances and conditions of notice to rules from the Department of Human Rights (IDHR).

The notice rules are the open question. IDHR published proposed rules in the Illinois Register on 15 May 2026. As summarised by the Illinois Human Rights Commission, they would have required notice before using AI to influence or facilitate covered decisions, given to current employees annually and within 30 days of adopting or substantially updating a system, and posted at worksites, on intranets and websites and in job postings, with records kept for four years. IDHR withdrew the proposal on 2 June 2026 and cancelled the hearing set for 10 June. No final rules have been adopted, so employers are giving notice without a prescribed form. The withdrawn draft is a reasonable guide to what a cautious notice looks like.

Key dates

• 9 August 2024. HB 3773 signed.
• 1 January 2026. The amendments take effect.
• 15 May 2026. IDHR proposed notice rules published.
• 2 June 2026. IDHR withdraws the proposal.

How it relates to other frameworks

The Illinois law takes a different route from NYC Local Law 144, which requires a bias audit and notice but does not itself make a disparate result unlawful. Illinois makes discriminatory effect the violation and leaves the employer to work out how to know. In practice that means running something like an audit anyway, because the employer carries the risk.

California’s ADS regulations are the closest parallel, applying an existing civil rights statute to automated decisions and treating anti-bias testing as relevant evidence. Colorado SB 26-189 adds notice, explanation and human review for employment decisions from 2027. Federal anti-discrimination law, Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act, applies to AI-assisted employment decisions throughout.

Working with it in Aicura

US state framework content is available in Aicura on the Enterprise tier and is switched on in Settings under Frameworks. Discovery surfaces AI in use that is not yet on the register, which matters here because the notice duty attaches to any AI used in covered decisions, not only the tools someone thought to declare. The AI Register records each tool and the decisions it touches. Impact assessments set out who is affected and how, the rights involved and the mitigations, and governance policy reviews check your AI Transparency Statement and Acceptable Use Policy against the frameworks you choose. Aicura gives guidance for your own judgement and your advisers’. It does not test tools for discriminatory effect or give legal advice.