Each year, LP’s Employment & Executive Compensation Group is pleased to provide a short checklist of steps that all companies should consider taking to measure their readiness for the coming year. We hope you find our 2026 Employment Law Checklist a helpful guide to best practices for the year ahead.

• Make sure employment documents comply with new Illinois Workplace Transparency Act (IWTA) requirements effective January 1. Amendments to the IWTA place new requirements on confidentiality covenants in employment agreements, offer letters, policies, handbooks, investigation procedures, and separation agreements, among others. Employers that “carve out” information that falls under the IWTA to avoid jumping through the hoops the law sets need to update their carve-outs to make sure employees aren’t prohibited from making disclosures about a newly expanded range of (alleged) unlawful employment actions. On the other hand, employers that expect their confidentiality covenants to cover these types of disclosures need to meet new heightened requirements. Either effective carve-outs or compliance with new requirements is critical because of consequential damages on top of the already provided penalties, fees, and costs.
• Update policies to reflect new leave and break requirements. States continue to expand family, medical, sick, lactation, and other job-protected leave and break rights, with several changes that took effect January 1, 2026. Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware,...

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