Free Employment Law Help

Free Resources

Understanding your rights at work should not require a law degree. Workplace Law Partners has assembled free videos, guides, articles, checklists, sample language, and course materials addressing common employment issues in Illinois. These resources explain the law in practical terms and identify steps employees can take to document a problem, communicate with an employer, preserve important information, and locate the appropriate government agency

Illinois Employment Law Handbook (PDF) — A comprehensive guide to Illinois employees’ workplace rights.

Discrimination, Disability, and Retaliation

• How to get a reasonable accomodation at work. - Need a reasonable accommodation at work—but not sure how to ask? In this video, an Illinois employment lawyer explains the practical steps employees can take to request a reasonable accommodation for a medical condition, disability, pregnancy-related limitation, or religious need. Learn what to say, when to make the request, what documentation may be needed, and what employers are generally required to do once you ask. You do not always need a lawyer to make the initial request. This video is designed to help you advocate for yourself, communicate clearly with HR or your supervisor, and recognize warning signs that your employer may not be handling the request appropriately.
• Fired? Here's exactly what to do in the first 72 hours – without a lawyer and for free.- Sign nothing. Say little. Write everything down. Then use the rights Illinois law already gives you. In this video, employment attorney David Fish of Workplace Law Partners walks you through the first three days after a termination, hour by hour: HOUR 1 — Why you should never sign anything in the room (and the one sentence to say instead). The 21-day rule for workers 40 and older. What to write down tonight before the story changes. HOUR 2 — What to gather from your own devices and email — and what not to touch. DAY 2 — The Personnel Record Review Act: how to force your former employer to hand over your file in 7 days with a five-minute email (the exact wording is on screen — pause and copy it). Plus your final paycheck and vacation payout rights. DAY 3 — Why "fired" does not disqualify you from unemployment, what "misconduct" actually means, and how to handle it if your employer contests. Then the three questions to ask before you sign any severance agreement.
• What Are My Rights If I'm Being Discriminated Against at Work?
• Workplace Discrimination: Employee Rights, Complaints, and Remedies - A practical overview of federal and Illinois protections against workplace discrimination, including protected characteristics, common forms of unequal treatment, filing options, retaliation protections, and possible remedies.
• When HR Becomes Part of the Problem - Uses a discrimination and retaliation verdict to examine weak investigations, post-complaint papering, predetermined performance plans, shifting explanations, and the harm caused when HR appears to manufacture a termination record.
• Racial Discrimination in the Workplace - Explains how race and color discrimination can affect hiring, pay, assignments, discipline, promotion, harassment, and termination, with guidance on preserving evidence and pursuing a complaint.
• Age Discrimination in Employment - Explains federal and Illinois age-discrimination protections, common warning signs in hiring, layoffs, discipline, promotion, and replacement decisions, and the evidence employees should consider preserving.
• Criminal Records and Employment Rights in Illinois - Explains when Illinois employers may consider conviction records, the individualized-assessment and notice process, mitigating information an applicant or employee may provide, and how unlawful conviction-record discrimination may be challenged.
• How the EEOC Charge Process Works - A step-by-step guide to filing an EEOC charge, including what information to collect, how mediation and investigation work, what a right-to-sue notice means, and why filing deadlines matter.
• Workplace Retaliation: Protected Activity and Warning Signs - Explains protected activity and the many forms retaliation can take, including termination, discipline, reduced hours, schedule changes, exclusion, and heightened scrutiny, as well as evidence that may connect an adverse action to a complaint.
• Criminal Background Employment Rights in Illinois

Sexual Harassment

• What Should I Do If I'm Being Sexually Harassed at Work?
• Comparing Federal, Illinois, Cook County, and Chicago Sexual-Harassment Laws - Compares the principal workplace-harassment protections that may apply in the Chicago area, including employer coverage, legal standards, training requirements, filing options, and remedies.
• Sexual Harassment Rights in Illinois - A comprehensive guide to quid pro quo and hostile-environment harassment, reporting, employer investigations, evidence preservation, retaliation, filing options, and possible remedies.
• Civil Claims Arising From Sexual Abuse - Explains potential civil remedies for survivors of sexual abuse, including claims available under Illinois law, relevant evidence, and the relationship between civil and criminal proceedings.
• LGBTQ+ Discrimination and Harassment at Work - Reviews protections against discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, together with practical steps for documenting and reporting workplace mistreatment.

Pregnancy, Disability Accomodations, and Religion

• Pregnancy Discrimination At Work - Tips for dealing with pregnancy discrimination at work without the need for hiring a lawyer.
• Disability Discrimination and Reasonable Accommodations in Illinois - Explains disability discrimination, reasonable accommodations, the interactive process, supporting documentation, common accommodation disputes, and options following a denial or retaliatory response.
• Religious Discrimination and Workplace Accommodations - Explains religious discrimination and harassment, scheduling, dress, prayer, and observance accommodations, the current undue-hardship standard, and how employees can make and document an accommodation request.
• The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and Illinois Law - Explains federal and Illinois pregnancy-accommodation rights, common accommodations, how to request assistance, how the accommodation process should work, and where employees may report discrimination or retaliation.

Wages, Overtime

• Am I Being Paid Correctly Under Illinois Wage Law? -Illinois and federal laws guarantee workers the right to recover unpaid wages from wage theft, misclassification, or overtime violations, alongside coverage for state and local paid leave requirements.
• Am I Misclassified as an Independent Contractor?
• Unpaid Wages - Overview of unpaid wage rights in Illinois.
• Illinois Wage-and-Hour Rights -An overview of unpaid wages, overtime, minimum wage, employee misclassification, unlawful deductions, and other pay violations, with practical information about claims and potential recovery.
• Overtime Pay: Who Qualifies and How It Is Calculated - Explains who may be entitled to overtime, why a salary or job title does not necessarily make someone exempt, common exemption and misclassification issues, regular-rate calculations, recordkeeping, and complaint options.
• Unpaid Wages, Commissions, Bonuses, and Final Compensation - Explains Illinois rules governing final pay, commissions, bonuses, accrued vacation, deductions, and withheld wages, together with administrative and court options for pursuing payment.
• Illinois and Cook County Paid Leave Law: Your Rights at Work - Overview of the right to paid leave in Cook County, Illinois.

Whistleblowers, Safety, and Public Employment

• What Are My Rights as a Workplace Whistleblower?
• Illinois Whistleblower Rights: What Employees Need to Know Before Reporting Misconduct! - A video explaining the rights of Illinois-based whistleblowers and reporting illegal conduct and how to protect yourself without a lawyer.
• Whistleblower Rights and Retaliation Protections - A broad guide to protected reporting, internal and external complaints, lawful evidence preservation, retaliation warning signs, common whistleblower statutes, and possible remedies.
• Illinois Whistleblower Act Compared With Federal Whistleblower Laws - Explains the amended Illinois Whistleblower Act and compares it with federal programs, including internal reporting, protected conduct, proof standards, remedies, filing routes, and major federal whistleblower statutes.
• Fired for Raising Workplace Safety Concerns? - Explains retaliation protections for employees who report safety hazards, the particularly short deadline for an OSHA retaliation complaint, Illinois alternatives, and the evidence employees should preserve.
• Employment Rights for Physicians and Healthcare Workers - A specialized resource addressing physician contracts, restrictive covenants, credentialing and workplace disputes, patient-safety reporting, healthcare fraud, and whistleblower protections.
• Laboratory COVID- 19 Fraud-A Whistleblowers Guide - This page gives an overview of the rights of whistleblowers in the laboratory industry which is full of fraud. 
• How to Evaluate a Whistleblower Attorney - Provides practical questions for evaluating whistleblower counsel, including relevant experience, firm resources, communication, contingency terms, and willingness to continue if the government declines to intervene.

Contracts, Severance, Noncompetes, and Professional Reputation

• Do I Have to Sign My Severance Agreement?
• Is My Noncompete Agreement Enforceable in Illinois?
• Illinois Noncompete and Trade Secret Laws Explained by Chicago Employment Lawyers - Video explaining how noncompete, trade secret and related agreements are regulated.
• Understanding an Employment Contract - Explains compensation, termination rights, restrictive covenants, confidentiality, intellectual property, dispute resolution, and other provisions employees should examine before signing or after a dispute develops.
• Illinois Noncompete and Nonsolicitation Agreements - Explains Illinois enforceability factors, legitimate business interests, duration, geographic and activity restrictions, negotiation, no-poach issues, and practical considerations before accepting a new position.
• Workplace Antitrust Violations and Employment Law - This video gives an overview of workplace anti-trust laws.
• Understanding and Negotiating a Severance Agreement - Explains common severance provisions, including payment, release of claims, benefits, references, confidentiality, non-disparagement, cooperation, and restrictive covenants, and identifies terms employees may seek to negotiate.
• Can an Employee Refuse a Severance Agreement? - Explains that employees may decline or negotiate a proposed severance agreement, the tradeoffs among signing, countering, and walking away, and the principal provisions that deserve careful attention.
• Defamation, Libel, and Slander in the Workplace - Explains libel, slander, fact versus opinion, truth and privilege defenses, anti-SLAPP issues, and employment-related disputes that may harm a worker's professional reputation.
• Rights of Employee-Owners and Minority Shareholders - A guide for employee-owners and minority shareholders concerning fiduciary duties, distributions, diversion of business opportunities, oppression, access to records, mediation, and litigation.

Workplace Injuries

• What Are My Rights If I'm Injured at Work?
• How Workers Compensation Works in Illinois for Injured Employees - Video gives an overview of the process of filing for workers compensation in Illinois and your rights relating to workplace injuries.
• Illinois Workers' Compensation Rights - Explains injury notice, medical treatment, temporary disability, permanency benefits, independent medical examinations, return-to-work issues, retaliation, and possible claims against third parties.
• What to Do After a Work-Related Injury - A practical checklist covering injury reporting, medical documentation, workers' compensation, medical leave, disability accommodations, retaliation, and related employment protections.

Free Speech, Social Media Posts and Public  Employees

• Can I Be Fired for Something I Posted on Social Media? 
• Employee Speech and Social-Media Posts - Plain-language commentary on private-employee speech, public-employee constitutional rights, protected group activity, off-duty conduct, and the employment risks associated with social-media posts.
• Can You Be Fired for a Social Media Post? Workplace Free Speech Explained - Overview of rights for public and private employees relating to social media posts.
• Employment Rights of Illinois Government Employees - A guide to public-sector discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, First Amendment rights, discipline, due process, union and civil-service protections, and the specialized forums that may govern government employment.
• Free-Speech Rights of Public Employees - Explains when public employees may receive First Amendment protection for speaking as private citizens on matters of public concern and how courts balance employee speech against legitimate government workplace interests.

Espanol

• Discriminación en el trabajo - Una guía general sobre las protecciones federales y de Illinois contra la discriminación, las categorías protegidas, las opciones para presentar una queja y la prohibición de represalias.
• Discriminación y adaptaciones durante el embarazo - Explica la discriminación por embarazo, las adaptaciones razonables, la licencia médica, los derechos relacionados con la lactancia y los pasos para documentar y denunciar una negativa o represalia.
• Salarios no pagados y horas extras - Explica los derechos relacionados con salarios no pagados, horas extras, deducciones, comisiones, vacaciones acumuladas, pago final y las opciones para recuperar la compensación adeudada.
• Despido ilegal en Illinois - Explica la regla de empleo a voluntad y las principales excepciones, incluidas la discriminación, las represalias, las denuncias de irregularidades, la compensación laboral y los contratos de empleo.
• Compensación laboral por lesiones de trabajo - Describe cómo informar una lesión laboral, obtener tratamiento médico, reclamar beneficios temporales o permanentes y protegerse contra represalias relacionadas con una reclamación.
• Acoso sexual en el lugar de trabajo - Explica qué conductas pueden constituir acoso sexual, cómo documentarlas y reportarlas, cómo responder a las represalias y dónde se puede presentar una reclamación.
• Derechos contra la discriminación laboral - Una guía práctica sobre las señales de discriminación, las pruebas que conviene conservar, las agencias que reciben reclamaciones y los posibles remedios disponibles.