Illinois Harassment Prevention Training: Due December 31, 2026

Short answer: if anyone works for you in Illinois, each of them needs sexual harassment prevention training by December 31, 2026, and again every calendar year. It applies from your first employee and wherever your business is based. You can use the Department of Human Rights' model training or your own, and you must keep a record of who was trained.

Who needs it

• Every employee who works in Illinois, including part-time and short-term employees and interns, whatever their status.
• People working in Illinois for an out-of-state business. The Department says any employees who work or will work in Illinois must be trained, wherever the employer is based. A Wisconsin company with one person working from home in Illinois owes that person this year's training.
• New hires, as soon as possible after they start, and by December 31. Someone who joins in December still needs this year's training.
• Not required: independent contractors. The Department recommends training them too.

What the training must cover

Whatever training you use has to cover at least the four topics of the state's model program (775 ILCS 5/2-109(B)):

1. an explanation of sexual harassment under the Illinois Human Rights Act,
2. examples of conduct that is unlawful sexual harassment,
3. a summary of the federal and state laws on sexual harassment, including the remedies available to victims, and
4. a summary of employers' responsibilities to prevent, investigate and correct sexual harassment.

The Department publishes a model training that meets these minimums, as slides or videos, in English and Spanish. You can also use a vendor's training or write your own. The Department doesn't certify outside trainings, so check any course against the four topics yourself.

Extra rules in Chicago and for restaurants and bars

• Chicago runs its own training year, July 1 to June 30. People who work in the city need an hour of harassment training, supervisors and managers two hours, and everyone an hour of bystander training. Records are kept for 5 years. The state's model training covers only the employee hour.
• Restaurants and bars must also give every employee supplemental training each year, aimed at the industry, and a written harassment policy in English and Spanish within their first calendar week (775 ILCS 5/2-110).

What to keep as proof

The Department says employers must keep a record of all trainings and make it available for its review. It doesn't prescribe a form or a period, so keep enough to answer any question about a particular person:

• each employee's name and the date they completed the training,
• which training they took, and its version or year,
• the signed proof: the model training ends with a Certificate of Participation the employee signs and dates, and
• who is still missing, so you can show you followed up.

If you miss it

Failing to train is a violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act. The Department first issues a notice giving you 30 days to comply (775 ILCS 5/2-109(D)). If you still haven't, it can ask the Human Rights Commission for a civil penalty, which takes your size and good-faith efforts into account (775 ILCS 5/8-109.1):

Employees can also file a charge with the Department over missing training.

A plan to finish by December 31

1. By the end of October: list everyone who works in Illinois, including part-time, remote and seasonal staff, and anyone in Chicago or in a restaurant or bar.
2. First week of November: choose the training and send it to everyone, with a due date in early December. That leaves time for reminders and for the people who are away.
3. Mid-November: remind everyone who hasn't finished.
4. Early December: go through the list person by person, and ask managers to follow up with their own people.
5. Week of December 14: send the training to anyone hired since November, so they finish before the deadline.
6. By December 31: collect the last certificates and save the year's record: who was trained, when, and with what.

Doing it by hand, and where that breaks

Emailing the slides and asking for signed certificates back works for a handful of people. It breaks when you have to chase dozens of replies, match certificates to names in a spreadsheet, remember the people hired in December, and do it all again next year. And when the Department asks for your record, a folder of loose PDFs is hard to show.

Ethica has the Department of Human Rights' model training ready to launch. Send it to everyone, or only to people with an "Illinois" role, and each person gets an email with a link to the training, with no account to create. They sign the Certificate of Participation at the end and upload a photo or scan of it, and it's kept on their record. Ethica sends reminders until each person is done, people you hire later get it automatically, and it repeats every year. The export lists each person and the date they finished, and you can download every certificate. See the Illinois training in Ethica, or check which states require harassment training.

Sources: 775 ILCS 5/2-101, 2-109, 2-110 and 8-109.1; the Illinois Department of Human Rights' training FAQs and model training page; the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. Checked October 11, 2026.