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Illinois · IHRA + BIPA biometric exposure

Illinois EPLI insurance, built for IHRA & BIPA.

EPLI built for Illinois’s two distinct exposures — the Illinois Human Rights Act, which reaches the smallest employers for many claims, and BIPA, the biometric-privacy law that has produced some of the largest employment-related verdicts in the country.

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Home›Illinois EPLI Insurance
Illinois EPLI, in plain terms

Illinois employers face a conventional discrimination-and-harassment exposure under the Illinois Human Rights Act and a second, highly distinctive one: the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which has turned ordinary fingerprint and facial-recognition timeclocks into a major source of class litigation. Here is how both shape what your EPLI needs to do.

The Illinois Human Rights Act — down to one employee

Illinois’s core employment statute is the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA), administered by the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR). It prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation across an unusually long list of protected categories — race, sex, sexual harassment, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity, arrest and conviction records, citizenship and work-authorization status, and, effective January 1, 2025, family responsibilities.

IHRA generally applies to employers with one or more employees within a 20-week window, but for charges alleging sexual harassment, pregnancy, retaliation, or disability discrimination, a single employee is enough to bring the employer under the law — so even the smallest Illinois employer has real exposure. A charge of employment discrimination must be filed with IDHR within two years of the alleged violation.

BIPA: Illinois’s distinctive employer exposure

The Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14) is what makes Illinois unique for employers, and it sits right on the line between employment practices and privacy:

  • What it regulates: BIPA governs how private entities collect and store biometric identifiers — most commonly, in the workplace, the fingerprint and facial-recognition scans used by employee timeclocks. Employers must give written notice and obtain a written release before collecting biometric data.
  • Why it’s severe: BIPA carries a private right of action with liquidated damages — $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation — plus attorney’s fees, which in a workforce-wide class can compound dramatically.
  • 2024 amendment: Illinois enacted SB 2979 (signed August 2, 2024), which limited repeat-scan accrual so that the same collection method generally counts as a single violation per person — meaningfully reducing the prior runaway-damages exposure, though substantial risk remains.

How your EPLI should be structured in Illinois

For the conventional exposure, the EPLI core insuring agreement should respond to IHRA discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims — remembering that a single employee can trigger coverage for sexual harassment, pregnancy, retaliation, and disability claims. BIPA is more nuanced: biometric-privacy class actions may implicate EPLI, cyber/privacy, or management-liability coverage depending on the forms, and many policies contain BIPA-specific exclusions. We review where your biometric exposure actually lands across your policies so a timeclock class action doesn’t fall into a gap — and we coordinate the EPLI with any cyber or management-liability coverage you carry.

Illinois EPLI — Frequently Asked

Questions Illinois operators ask.

Does my EPLI cover a BIPA lawsuit over our fingerprint timeclock?
It depends on the policy forms, and you should never assume it does. BIPA (740 ILCS 14) is a biometric-privacy law, not a traditional discrimination statute, so a class action over fingerprint or facial-recognition timeclocks may implicate EPLI, cyber/privacy coverage, or management-liability coverage — and many policies contain BIPA-specific exclusions. The stakes are high because BIPA provides liquidated damages of $1,000 per negligent and $5,000 per intentional violation plus attorney’s fees. The 2024 amendment (SB 2979) limited repeat-scan accrual, reducing the prior runaway exposure, but significant risk remains. We review where your biometric exposure actually sits across your policies so it does not fall into a coverage gap.
I’m a small Illinois employer — does the Human Rights Act apply to me?
Quite possibly. The Illinois Human Rights Act generally applies to employers with one or more employees within a 20-week period, but for charges alleging sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, retaliation, or physical or mental disability discrimination, a single employee is enough to bring the employer under the law. The Act also covers a long and growing list of protected categories, including family responsibilities as of January 1, 2025, and a charge can be filed with the Illinois Department of Human Rights within two years. So even a very small Illinois employer carries genuine discrimination and harassment exposure that EPLI is designed to fund the defense and settlement of.
What does EPLI (employment practices liability insurance) actually cover?
EPLI covers claims that employees, former employees, and job applicants bring over how they were treated at work. The core perils are wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment (including sexual harassment), retaliation, and failure to promote or hire. Most policies also respond to related allegations such as wrongful discipline, negligent evaluation, and defamation tied to employment. Crucially, EPLI pays both the cost to defend the claim and any settlement or judgment. These exposures are specifically excluded by general liability and are not covered by workers’ compensation, which is why employers carry EPLI as a separate line. Federal claims are enforced through the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and most states add their own, often broader, employment laws on top.
Why does every employer need EPLI, even a small one with good practices?
Because employment claims are filed by people, not by your record. A termination handled correctly, a promotion that went to one candidate over another, or a single comment can still produce an EEOC charge or a single-plaintiff lawsuit — and you pay to defend it whether or not you did anything wrong. Many anti-discrimination laws apply to very small employers: federal harassment protections under Title VII reach employers with 15 or more employees, but state laws often go lower, and some apply to employers with only a single employee for certain claims. Defense costs alone for an employment suit routinely reach five and six figures. EPLI exists so that one disgruntled employee does not become a balance-sheet event.
Other States

EPLI insurance in other states.

California · FEHA & PAGA exposureNew York · State + NYC Human Rights Law

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