Binding law — in force
Employers must notify employees that AI is being used in employment decisions (Illinois)
It is a civil rights violation under the Illinois Human Rights Act for an employer to fail to notify an employee that the employer is using AI for covered employment decisions (recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal, training, discharge, discipline, tenure, terms/conditions). Applies whether or not the use is discriminatory. Detect an AI employment-decision path with no employee-notice mechanism. (IDHR is to set notice timing/means by rule.)
Who it applies to
- Duty falls on: employer
- Systems covered: automated decision
- Sectors: employment
- Illinois employers using AI in covered employment decisions must notify employees. Effective 2026-01-01; IDHR rulemaking pending on timing/means.
The guard to add
Notify applicants and employees, in the application flow, HR portal, or handbook they actually receive, that AI is used in each employment decision before it is applied to them.
An employee-facing notice tied to each AI-assisted employment process (resume screening, promotion ranking, performance or discipline scoring, scheduling), placed where people meet that process: application-flow copy, the careers page, the HR portal, or a handbook AI section. The pipeline that calls score_applicant or rank_employees records which notice version each person received, and checks that record before scoring so a new AI use case cannot go live for people who were never told. One generic hiring disclaimer does not cover promotion, discipline, or termination uses.
Where it goes: 1 application source code, 2 data models, 14 user-facing text.
What this provision adds:
- Cover every covered decision where AI is used: recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal, training, discharge, discipline, tenure, and terms or conditions of employment.
- The notice is owed whether or not the AI use is discriminatory; IDHR is to set the notice timing and means by rule.
Example (Python HR scoring job (scikit-learn)), before:
def rank_employees(team_id):
staff = hr.employees(team_id)
return model.predict_proba(features(staff))[:, 1]After:
def rank_employees(team_id):
staff = hr.employees(team_id)
missing = [e.id for e in staff if not hr.ai_notice_received(e.id, use='promotion_ranking')]
if missing:
raise NoticeMissing(f'AI-use notice not yet given to {len(missing)} employees')
return model.predict_proba(features(staff))[:, 1]Control: Employer uses AI in employment decisions without notifying the employee. The same guard addresses 1 item with binding law in 1 jurisdiction. Engineering guidance, not legal advice.
Rule id il-hb3773.ai-use-employee-notice · review status: primary source derived