Senate Bill 1480 has been signed into law in Illinois, adding a new Section 103.1 to the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) that severely restricts the ability of employers to rely on conviction records in making employment decisions. Effective immediately, the amendment prohibits use of a conviction record as the basis for an employment decision unless 1. There is a “substantial relationship” between one or more of the candidate’s prior convictions and the job at issue or 2. Employment would involve an “unreasonable risk to property or to the safety or welfare of specific individuals or the general public.”
