What the notice has to cover
What the statute requires, what it leaves to you, and how teams handle a rule with no official form.
Illinois
Illinois AI hiring law
HB 3773 amended the Illinois Human Rights Act and has been in force since January 1, 2026. The statute is short. It reaches both what your hiring model produces and what you feed it, including a specific ban on using ZIP code as a stand-in for a protected class.
What the statute requires
Three duties, all in force now. The Illinois General Assembly's own bill status page is the source for the dates below.
Illinois: jurisdiction and source status
- Jurisdiction
- Illinois (statewide)
- Statute
- HB 3773, Public Act 103-0804, amending the Illinois Human Rights Act at 775 ILCS 5/2-101
- Signed
- August 9, 2024
- Effective date
- January 1, 2026
- Core duties
- An employer must notify a candidate or employee when artificial intelligence is used in connection with a covered employment decision; may not use AI that discriminates on a protected characteristic; and may not use ZIP code as a proxy for a protected characteristic.
- Enforcement
- Charges are filed with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
- Implementing rules
- As of August 26, 2026, no final IDHR implementing rules had been published. The statutory obligation is in force regardless of the rulemaking's status.
- Last reviewed
- August 26, 2026
- Government source
- Illinois General Assembly HB 3773 bill status (Public Act 103-0804)
The three duties, separated
They get described as one "AI hiring law". In practice they land on three different desks, and the notice is only the first of them.
| Duty | What it reaches | Who usually owns it |
|---|---|---|
| Notify | Telling the candidate or employee that AI was used in connection with a covered employment decision | Recruiting operations — it is a workflow and records problem |
| Do not discriminate | The outcome the tool produces, on any characteristic protected by the Illinois Human Rights Act | Counsel, plus whoever selects and monitors the tool |
| No ZIP code proxy | The inputs — ZIP code may not stand in for a protected characteristic | Whoever configures the tool and its data |
Notice Tracking handles the first row. The other two belong with whoever selects and configures your hiring tool. What the ZIP-code proxy rule actually prohibits.
The obligation is in force while the rules are still pending
As of August 26, 2026, no final implementing rules from the Illinois Department of Human Rights had been published. That causes real confusion, and it has a simple answer: the duties come from the statute, and the statute has applied since January 1, 2026. A pending rulemaking changes what guidance exists. It does not pause the law.
So Illinois-facing workflows have to be built against the statute's plain requirements rather than against a form supplied by the agency. There is no official template and no safe-harbor wording. You have the requirement to notify, and your own approved language.
Go deeper on Illinois
The ZIP-code proxy rule
Why a rule about postcodes sits inside an AI statute, and what it reaches that an outcome test would miss.
Illinois plus another state
Illinois and California are in force on different terms. Running both through the same recruiters is where it gets hard.
What this means for a staffing agency
Illinois moved AI hiring notices from a planning topic to a live one on January 1, 2026. Deciding to send one is rarely the hard part. The hard part is that it has to happen the same way for every recruiter, every client account and every branch, and that a year later somebody has to show it happened for a named candidate.
Charges under the Illinois Human Rights Act go to the Illinois Department of Human Rights, and the records that matter at that point are candidate-level: which template version was sent, when, and what the delivery provider returned. Those are captured at send time or not at all. Illinois Department of Human Rights: filing a charge sets out the agency's own charge process.
Deciding who actually owns that send, when every recruiter has their own habits, is its own problem: who owns sending candidate notices.
Common questions
When did the Illinois AI hiring law take effect?
January 1, 2026. HB 3773 was approved by the Governor on August 9, 2024 as Public Act 103-0804, with an effective date of January 1, 2026, according to the Illinois General Assembly bill status page.
Does Illinois require a notice when AI is used in hiring?
Yes. HB 3773 amends the Illinois Human Rights Act to require that an employer notify a candidate or employee when artificial intelligence is used in connection with a covered employment decision. The statute does not prescribe a form of notice.
Why does the Illinois law single out ZIP codes?
Because a ZIP code can act as a stand-in for a protected characteristic without ever naming one. HB 3773 prohibits using ZIP code as a proxy for a protected class, which reaches the input to a model rather than only its output.
Has the Illinois Department of Human Rights issued final rules?
As of August 26, 2026, no final implementing rules had been published. That does not suspend the statute — the obligations have applied since January 1, 2026.
Where does a candidate file an Illinois AI discrimination charge?
With the Illinois Department of Human Rights, which administers charges under the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Illinois has been live since January 2026. Can you show a specific send?
Notice Tracking keeps approved template versions, candidate references, send timestamps, provider-returned delivery events and export history connected, so a single candidate's record can be produced without reconstruction.
This page is general information about published government requirements, last reviewed August 26, 2026. Requirements change; confirm the current text with the agency and your own counsel before relying on it.