The State of Illinois recently issued a revised mandatory labor law posting and enacted a new notice requirement affecting virtually all Illinois employers. Specifically, the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) released a newly revised version of the mandatory Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA) poster.
What Changed on the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act Poster?
The revised Victims Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA) notice now includes updates and an expanded set of information in the Accommodations and Discrimination and Retaliation sections.
According to the poster, VESSA provides employees who are victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence, and employees who have a family or household member who is a victim of such violence, with unpaid, job-guaranteed leave; reasonable accommodations; and protections from discrimination and retaliation. This time may be used if the employee or the employee’s family or household member is:
- Experiencing an incident of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence;
- Recovering from the violence;
- Seeking or receiving medical help, legal assistance (including participation in legal proceedings), counseling, safety planning, or other assistance;
- Temporarily or permanently relocating;
- Taking other actions to increase the safety of the victim from future domestic, sexual, or gender violence, or any other crime of violence, or to ensure economic security;
- Attending the funeral or [an] alternative to a funeral if death is caused by [a] crime of violence;
- Making arrangements necessitated by a death caused by a crime of violence; or
- Grieving a death caused by a crime of violence.
What New Information is Included in the Accommodations and Discrimination and Retaliation Sections?
As mentioned, the latest updates to the notice (dated 12/25 in the lower right-hand corner of the notice) mainly affect two already established sections:
- In the Accommodations section, the notice now states that employees have “the right to access any digital documents or communications stored on an employer-issued device relating to domestic, sexual, or gender violence, or any other crime of violence.”
- In the Discrimination and Retaliation section, it now clarifies that VESSA prohibits employers from discriminating, retaliating, or otherwise treating an employee or job applicant unfavorably if the individual involved “used employer-issued equipment to record domestic, sexual, or gender violence, or any other crime of violence committed against them or a family or household member.”
Employer Takeaways
Illinois employers must post the revised VESSA poster in an area frequented by employees during the typical workday. Our revised 2026 Illinois State & Federal Labor Law Poster now includes the latest VESSA notice. This up-to-date compliance poster solution is guaranteed to include all recent revisions to required Illinois and federal notices. Existing subscribers who purchased our Illinois Compliance Service Subscription will automatically receive this and all future revised postings as part of their annual subscription plan.