Federal & State Regulations | Recordkeeping - Illinois

State Info

Summary of differences between federal and state regulations

Federal

The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require employers to allow employees access to their personnel files. This access is generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee’s representative). However, while federal law does not, some state laws require employers to allow employees access to their files. Employers need to comply with the state laws.

Federal OSHA requires that employers must allow employees and their designated representatives to inspect and/or copy records pertaining to exposure to hazardous substances. Access must be provided in a reasonable time, place, and manner. Access must be provided within 15 days working days. No costs may be incurred for the first provision, but subsequent provisions may be charged reasonable, nondiscriminatory administrative costs.

Employees and former employees must be guaranteed access to their individual OSHA 301 forms. Employee representatives will be provided access to the “information about the case” section of the OSHA 301 form in establishments where they represent employees.

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires employers to allow employees to inspect and/or obtain a copy of any of their own protected health information that is used to make decisions about them. Employers must provide access within 30 days of receiving a request if the information is maintained or accessible onsite. If not, employers have 60 days to act. Employers must arrange for a mutually convenient time and place for employee access. Employers may charge reasonable, cost-based fees for copying information, but not for retrieving or handling the information or processing a request.

State

Records to be kept on file
Wage and Hour/Payroll	Payroll Employers with one or more employees must keep records containing the following information for each employee: Name, Address, Occupation, Rate of pay, Amount paid each pay period, and Hours worked each day and in each work week. Each worker employed at the learner rate must be designated as such on the payroll record, with the learner's occupation shown. These records must be kept for at least three years. 820 ILCS 105/8
	Unemployment Under the Illinois Unemployment Insurance Act, employers must preserve payroll records that show the following information with respect to each employee: Name; Social Security number; City or county where employed; Dates worker performed services; Dates hired, laid off, discharged or quit, and rehired after temporary layoffs; Monthly, weekly, daily, or hourly rate of pay, or the piecework rate if the worker is paid on a piecework basis; The number of hours worked by each worker paid at an hourly or piecework rate; Customary or scheduled full-time hours for each worker paid on an hourly or piecework basis; and Dates covered by the employer’s pay period, the wages paid for each pay period, and the total wages for each pay period. The record of wages paid must include: Money wages paid, such as wages, salary, and commissions; Reasonable cash value of remuneration other than cash (e.g., board, room, laundry), except where a meal is provided for the benefit of the employer; Special payments (e.g., bonuses, gifts, dismissal pay, vacation pay, wages in lieu of notice) and the period of time these special payments cover; and Amount of tips and gratuities, if the workers customarily receive them from persons other than the employer and are reported them to the employer. All payroll records must be kept in such a way that quarterly wages of each worker and the weeks in which the workers performed their services may be easily determined. These records must be preserved for at least five years, or until a determination and assessment of contributions, interest, or penalties or an action for the collection of contributions, interest, or penalties has become final or is canceled and withdrawn. 820 ILCS 405/1800, 56 IL Admin. Code Sec. 2760.115, Illinois Unemployment Insurance Law Handbook: Employer Records
	Wage/hour Employers must keep a time book showing the names and addresses of all employees, as well as the hours worked by each of them on each day. Note: For the purpose of this recordkeeping requirement, an "employer" is any person, partnership, joint stock company, or corporation, which employs any person. 820 ILCS 140/5
	Except for the state and federal government, all employers must keep records of: The names and addresses of all employees, and The wages paid each payday. 820 ILCS Sec. 115/10
	Public contractors' records Contractors and subcontractors working on public works projects must keep records of all laborers, mechanics, and other workers employed by them on the project. These records must include the following information for each worker: Name, Address, Telephone number when available, Social Security number, Classification or classifications, Hourly wages paid in each pay period, Number of hours worked each day, and Starting and ending times of work each day. 820 ILCS 130/5
	Tipped employees For employees whose compensation is derived in part from gratuities, employers must keep records containing the following information with respect to each such employee: An identifying symbol, letter, or number on the payroll record indicating such employee is a person whose wage is determined in part by gratuities; The report received from the employee setting forth gratuities received during each workday (such reports must be signed by the employee and include his or her Social Security number); The amount by which the employee's wage increased from gratuities as determined by the employer (not in excess of 40 percent of the applicable statutory minimum wage); Hours worked each workday in any occupation in which the employee does not receive gratuities and the total daily or weekly straight-time payment made by the employer for such hours; and Hours worked each workday in an occupation in which the employee received tips or gratuities, and total daily or weekly straight-time earnings for such hours. 56 IL Admin. Code Sec. 210.720
	Day and temporary laborers Whenever a day and temporary labor service agency sends one or more persons to work as day or temporary laborers, the agency shall keep the following records with respect to each temporary laborer: Name, Address, Specific location sent to work, Type of work performed, Number of hours worked, Hourly rate of pay and date sent, Any of the laborer's specific qualifications or attributes requested by each third-party client; Deductions to be made from each laborer's compensation made by either the third-party client or by the day and temporary labor service agency for the laborer's transportation, food, equipment, withheld income tax, withheld Social Security payments, and every other deduction; Verification of the actual cost of any equipment or meal charged to a day or temporary laborer; and Race and gender. The agency must also keep additional, non-Wage-and-Hour records relating to such transactions. These requirements can be found under the same statute. These records must be kept for three years. 820 ILCS 175/12
Accessible Records	Public and private employees Under the IL Personnel Records Review Act, both public and private employers with five or more employees (not including the employer's immediate family members) must allow employees to inspect their personnel records. The personnel documents employees are entitled to inspect include those which are, have been, or are intended to be used in determining that employee's qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, and discharge or other disciplinary action. Effective January 1, 2025, employee requests to access their personnel records must: Be made at reasonable intervals, unless otherwise provided in a collective bargaining agreement; Be made to a person responsible for maintaining the employer’s personnel records, including the employer’s human resources department, payroll department, the employee’s supervisor or department manager, or to an individual as provided in the employer’s written policy; Identify which personnel records the employee is requesting or if the employee is requesting all of the records allowed to be requested ; Specify whether the employee is asking to inspect, copy, or receive copies of the records; Specify whether records be provided in hardcopy or in a reasonable and commercially available electronic format; Specify whether inspection, copying, or receipt of copies will be performed by that employee’s representative, including family members, lawyers, union stewards, other union officials, or translators; and If the records being requested include medical information and medical records, include a signed waiver to release medical information and medical records to that employee’s specific representative. If employees’ requests meet the above requirements, they are entitled to the following categories of documents: Any personnel documents which are, have been or are intended to be used in determining that employee's qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action, (with some exceptions including employer's trade secrets, client lists, sales projections, and financial data); Any employment-related contracts or agreements the employer maintains that are legally binding on the employee; Any employee handbooks the employer made available to the employee or that the employee acknowledged receiving; and Any written employer policies or procedures that the employer contends the employee was subject to and that concern qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action. An employee may request all or any part of his or her records. The employer may require such requests be submitted in writing on a form supplied by the employer. Employers must allow employees to inspect their files within seven working days after the employee makes his or her request. If the employer can reasonably show that the seven-day deadline cannot be met, the employer has an additional seven days to comply. Personnel file inspection must take place at a location reasonably near the employee's place of employment and during normal working hours. The employer may allow the inspection to take place at a time other than working hours or at a place other than where the records are maintained if that time or place would be more convenient for the employee. If an employee is unable to review his or her personnel record at the employing unit, the employer must, upon the employee's written request, mail a copy of the requested record to the employee. Number of inspections The employer must grant at least two inspection requests by an employee in a calendar year when requests are made at reasonable intervals, unless otherwise provided in a collective bargaining agreement. Copies An employee may obtain a copy of the information contained in the employee's personnel record. The employer may charge a fee for providing a copy. The fee must be limited to the actual cost of duplicating the information. Designated representative access An employee involved in a current grievance against the employer may designate in writing a representative of the employee's union or collective bargaining unit or other representative to inspect the employee's personnel record which may have a bearing on the resolution of the grievance. Record correction Should an employee disagree with any information contained in his or her personnel record, a removal or correction of that information may be mutually agreed upon by the employer and the employee. If an agreement cannot be reached, the employee may submit a written statement explaining the employee's position. The employer must attach the statement to the disputed portion of the personnel record. The employee's statement must be included whenever that disputed portion of the personnel record is released to a third party. Divulging information to a third party An employer must review a personnel record before releasing information to a third party. Except when the release is ordered to a party in a legal action or arbitration, employers must delete disciplinary reports, letters of reprimand, or other records of disciplinary action which are more than four years old. An employer or former employer may not divulge a disciplinary report, letter of reprimand, or other disciplinary action to a third party without providing the employee a written notice. This notice must be sent by first-class mail to the employee's last-known address. It must be mailed on or before the day the information is divulged. This does not apply if: The employee has specifically waived written notice as part of a written, signed employment application with another employer; The disclosure is ordered to a party in a legal action or arbitration; or Information is requested by a government agency as a result of a claim or complaint by an employee, or as a result of a criminal investigation by the agency. If an employer receives a request for records of a disciplinary report, letter of reprimand, or other disciplinary action in relation to an employee under the Freedom of Information Act, the employer may provide notification through first-class mail or through email, if available. 820 ILCS 40/1-40/13
	Toxic material exposure Public employees and their representatives are entitled to observe monitoring or measuring of potentially toxic materials or harmful physical agents. They are also entitled to access records of such monitoring or measuring. Public employees and former employees are entitled to access records which will indicate their personal exposure to toxic materials or harmful physical agents. 820 ILCS 220/2.5
	Temporary laborers Temporary laborers sent to work for a third-party client by a day and temporary labor service agency are entitled to review and copy certain records. The records must be provided within five days following a written request. These records include: The name, address, and telephone number of each third-party client, including each worksite, to which the laborer was sent, and the date of the transaction; The laborer's name and address, specific location sent to work, the type of work performed, the number of hours worked, the hourly rate of pay, and the date sent to work; The name and title of the individual(s) at each third-party client's place of business responsible for the transaction; Copies of all employment notices provided to the laborer; Deductions made from the laborer's compensation; and Verification of the actual cost of any equipment or meal charged to a laborer. The agency must also make records related to the number of hours billed to a third-party client for an individual laborer's hours of work available for review or copying by the laborer. These records must be made available during normal business hours within five days following a written request. The day and temporary labor service agency shall make forms, in duplicate, for such requests available laborers at the dispatch office. The laborer should be given a copy of the request form. 820 ILCS 175/12
Inaccessible Records	The right of the employee or the employee's designated representative to inspect his or her personnel records does not apply to: An employer who does not maintain any personnel records; Letters of reference for that employee or external peer review documents for academic employees of institutions of higher education; Any portion of a test document, except that the employee may see a cumulative total test score for either a section of or the entire test document; Materials relating to the employer's staff planning, unless such materials are, have been, or are intended to be used by the employer in determining an individual employee's qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, or additional compensation, or in determining an individual employee's discharge or discipline; Information of a personal nature about a person other than the employee; Records relevant to any other pending claim between the employer and employee which may be discovered in a judicial proceeding; nor Investigatory or security records maintained by an employer to investigate criminal conduct by an employee. 820 ILCS 40/10