Effective January 1, 2026, significant amendments to the Illinois Workplace Transparency Act (WTA) impose stricter limits on the use of confidentiality clauses, broaden protected rights like “concerted activity,” and expand the legal exposure for employers who fail to comply. The changes will impact how employers must draft confidentiality clauses in employment contracts as well as release language in severance packages or settlement agreements with employees and independent contractors.
The WTA, first enacted in 2020, aims to prevent workplace discrimination and harassment against independent contractor workers and current, prospective, or former employees by prohibiting any contractual terms that place restrictions on the ability to report allegations of unlawful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation practices to government officials. The amended WTA expands that prohibition to include any other state or federal law “governing employment,” including laws enforced by the Illinois and U.S. Departments of Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The same prohibition will now also apply to any contractual restriction on an individual’s ability to engage in concerted activity, such as collective bargaining to address work-related issues.
Additionally, all agreements entered into on or after January 1 as a unilateral condition of...
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