Significant Amendment to Illinois Personnel Record Review Act Coming January 1, 2025

On August 2, 2024, Governor Pritzker signed into law Public Act 103-0727, which amends the Illinois Personnel Record Review Act. The amendment refines the requirements for making a valid personnel record request and expands employers’ obligations when turning over an employee’s personnel records. The amendment goes into effect on January 1, 2025.

First, the amendment clarifies that any request by an employee to inspect, copy, or receive their personnel records must be in writing. A “written request” includes electronic communications, such as emails or text messages. The amendment requires that in order to be a valid under the Act, the employee’s written request must:

1. Be made at reasonable intervals, unless otherwise provided in a collective bargaining agreement;
2. Be made to a person responsible for maintaining personnel records, which includes the human resources and payroll departments, the employee’s supervisor or department manager, or an individual designated by the employer’s written policy;
3. Identify what personnel records the employee is requesting, or state that the employee is requesting all records allowed to be requested under the Act;
4. Specify if the employee is requesting to inspect, to copy, or to receive copies of the requested records;
5. Specify whether the records should be provided in hardcopy or in a reasonable and commercially available electronic format;
6. Specify whether inspection, copying or receipt of copies will be performed by the employee’s representative (“representative” including family members, lawyers, union stewards, other union officials, or translators); and
7. If the records being requested include any medical information or medical records, include a signed waiver to release medical information and medical records to that employee’s specific representative.

In the event that the employer does not maintain the specific records requested by the employee, the amendment now allows the employer to respond in writing notifying the employee of such. Further, if the records requested are maintained in a manner such that they are already accessible to the employee, the amendment provides that the employer may give the employee instructions on how to access the records, rather than providing the records themselves.

Additionally, the amendment significantly expands the definition of what counts as a “personnel record” that a requesting employee is entitled to receive. If an employee requests personnel records in accordance with the seven requirements listed above, the employee has a right under the Act to “inspect, copy, and receive copies” of the following types of documents:

1. Any personnel documents which are, have been, or are intended to be used in determining the employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action;
2. Any employment-related contracts or agreements that the employer maintains are legally binding on the employee;
3. Any employee handbooks that the employer made available to the employee or that the employee acknowledged receiving; and
4. Any written employer policies or procedures that the employer contends the employee was subject to and that concern qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, compensation benefits, discharge or other disciplinary action.

Employers should note that, in addition to what the Act previously required, the amendment now also obligates employers to produce documents related to an employee’s benefits, as well as documents that belong in the last three categories above. In practice, the amendment will require employers to turn over a larger volume of documents in response to a personnel records request than was previously required under the Act. Additionally, many of the documents, such as policy manuals, administrative procedures and collective bargaining agreements, will likely be housed outside of the employee’s personnel file. As such, employers should take care to separately maintain current and past employment contracts, handbooks, CBAs, policies, and procedures that apply or have previously applied to employees.

Finally, the amendment makes some nuanced changes to the required timeline for responding to a request. Employers will now have 7 working days after the receipt of the request to respond, instead of 7 working days after the employee makes the request. If an employer shows it cannot meet that deadline, the employer  may take an additional 7 calendar days to comply.

Employers should familiarize themselves with the new requirements of the Act before the effective date of January 1, 2025 in order to ensure they are fully responsive to personnel records requests in accordance with the new, expanded requirements.