Compliance Stuff

Illinois lawmakers just made two critical changes to the way the state’s civil rights agency administers its key anti-bias law – no longer requiring parties to participate in a fact-finding conference in every case and creating a new category of penalties that can be levied on employers . These changes affect any charges pending or filed before the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) on or after the effective date of January 1, 2026 . What do employers need to know about these two amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) – and what should you do to adjust to the changes? 1. Fact-Finding Conferences No Longer Mandatory Under the IHRA Prior to the 2025 amendments, state law required the IDHR to conduct a fact-finding conference for  every  charge, regardless of merit. This is no longer the case. The IHRA now provides that the IDHR  may  conduct fact finding conferences in its discretion. Fact-finding conferences will proceed, however, if both...

Earlier this month, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas approved a  consent judgment  vacating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Medical Debt Rule. T he decision holds that the CFPB exceeded its authority under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when enacting the Rule . This development has significant implications for healthcare providers and other entities involved in the reporting and use of medical debt information. Background: The Medical Debt Rule and FCRA The FCRA, permits Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) to report medical debt information—provided it is coded to protect patient privacy—i.e., it does not disclose the patient’s health condition or procedure.   Continuing with its efforts to  prioritize  medical debt rulemaking, the CFPB’s Medical Debt Rule, finalized in January 2025, sought to prohibit CRAs from including any medical debt information in con...