b'2025 END OF SESSION ILLINOIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCEEMPLOYMENTWith the conclusion of the 2025 Spring Legislative Session, the General Assembly passed several bills of impact on employers in Illinois. The tenor of the supermajority party this year was largely to respond to move-ment, actual or perceived, at the federal level. The Illinois Chamber engaged with the sponsors and stakehold-ers of all bills pertaining to our council to address the concerns of Illinois business. BILLS PASSED BOTH HOUSESHB 1278 (Didech/Edly-Allen) VESSA-Employee Access to Employer Monitoring Amends the Victims Economic Security and Safety Act. Provides that an employer shall not retaliate against an employee or deprive an employee of employer-issued equipment because the employee used employer-is-sued equipment to record domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence committed against the employee or a family or household member of the employee. Provides that an employer shall grant an employee access to any photographs, voice or video recordings, sound recordings, or any other digital documents or communications stored on an employer-issued device relating to domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence committed against the employee or a family or household member of the employee. Provides that the provisions do not prohibit an employer from complying with an investigation, court order, or subpoena for a device, information, data, or documents. Provides that the provisions shall not be construed to relieve an employee of obligations to comply with an employers reason-able employment policies or to perform the essential functions of employment. NEUTRALHB 1616 (Syed/Belt) Organ Donation Leave-Part Time Employee Amends the Employee Blood and Organ Donation Leave Act. Provides that an employee or part-time employee (rather than an employee) may use up to 10 days of leave in any 12-month period to serve as an organ donor. Provides that, for a part time employee using leave to serve as an organ donor, the employer shall calculate the daily average pay the part-time employee received during his or her previous 2 months of employment and compensate the part-time employee in the amount of the daily average pay for the leave days used. NEUTRALHB 2978(Faver Dias/Cunningham) Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Creates the Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act. Provides that an employee of an employer with 16 or more employees and no more than 50 employees shall be entitled to use a maximum of 10 days of unpaid neo-natal intensive care leave while any child of the employee is a patient in a neonatal intensive care unit. Provides that an employee of an employer with 51 or more employees shall be entitled to use 20 days of unpaid neonatal intensive care leave while a child of the employee is a patient in a neonatal intensive care unit. Provides that, upon the conclusion of leave taken under the Act, an employee shall be reinstated to his or her former posi-tion or a substantially equivalent one with no loss of benefits held or accrued prior to taking leave. Sets forth provisions concerning unlawful employer practices; Department of Labor responsibilities; and enforcement. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Fund. NEUTRALHB 3094 (Mah/Villivalam) Transportation Benefits Program Act HB 3094 significantly amends the Transportation Benefits Program Act, which was passed in bipartisan fashion in 2023. This underlying law took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. The law requires employers to offer a pre-tax commuter benefit, in which employees are allowed to use pre-tax dollars for the purchase of a transit pass, via payroll deduction. The costs for such purchases may be excluded from the employees taxable wages and compensation up to the maximum amount permitted by federal tax law, which is $300. HB3094 expands the definition of a covered employer. Under current law, an employer is subject to the Act if they have 50 or more full-time employees. Under HB 3094, it would include all employees, regardless of full-time or part-time status. This would significantly expand the number of employers who are subject to the mandates under the Transportation Benefits Program. 2|END OF SESSION REPORT'