Illinois annual sexual harassment prevention training
Illinois requires annual sexual harassment prevention training for every employer in the state. Restaurants and bars face an additional industry-specific supplemental training requirement, and Chicago employers face a separate, broader municipal mandate.
Coverage scope
Every employee, including short-term, part-time, and interns. Restaurants and bars must additionally train all employees with the supplemental hospitality module.
Duration & frequency
- Duration
- No fixed minimum, but content must satisfy IDHR model program requirements; restaurant/bar supplemental training is in addition to the base program.
- Frequency
- Annually, every calendar year.
- New hires
- No fixed day-count in the statute. The enforceable date is December 31 of the calendar year of hire; IDHR advises training new staff as soon as possible after hire, since the employer is answerable for their conduct from day one.
Every compliant program must include
Miss any one of these elements and your training fails the Illinois standard, even if every other detail is perfect.
Explanation of sexual harassment consistent with the IHRA
Examples of conduct constituting unlawful sexual harassment
Summary of federal and state statutory provisions concerning sexual harassment, remedies, and enforcement
Summary of employer responsibilities in preventing, investigating, and correcting harassment
For restaurants/bars: additional content on industry-specific scenarios per IDHR model
Recordkeeping
Employers must maintain a record of all training provided each year; IDHR may request these records during an investigation.
Penalties & enforcement
Civil penalties tiered by size and offence number under 775 ILCS 5/8-109.1: employers with fewer than four employees face up to $500, $1,000, and $3,000 for first, second, and third offences; employers with four or more face up to $1,000, $3,000, and $5,000. IDHR issues a notice to show cause first, and petitions the Human Rights Commission if the employer does not comply within 30 days.
Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR).
Fourteen or fewer employees?
You sit below the fifteen-employee threshold where the federal laws begin, which is where most small employers stop reading. Illinois does not use that line, so this training requirement reaches you anyway. We run a program scoped for exactly that position.
We map your roster to every mandate that applies.
Illinois is one of 11 jurisdictions in our compliance matrix. If your employees work across state lines, the mandates stack: different durations, frequencies, and content per location. We handle that.
This page summarizes publicly available statutes and regulatory guidance, last reviewed July 2026. State and local mandates change frequently; verify current requirements with the enforcing agency or employment counsel before relying on this content for compliance decisions. empathiHR clients receive a written compliance matrix updated against their roster and locations.
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Illinois is one piece of the picture. We inventory every state and city your employees work in, deliver compliant training per location, and produce the documentation your counsel will need.