The Illinois Human Rights Act (“IHRA”) protects employees from unlawful discrimination based upon their sexual orientation.  This means that an employer is prohibited from making employment decisions, such as hiring, firing, promotion, demotion, or pay determinations, because of an employee’s sexual orientation.  Additionally, the statute protects employees from hostile work environment harassment based upon their sexual orientation, as well as retaliation for reporting what they reasonably believe to be sexual orientation discrimination.  The IHRA covers employers with as few as fifteen employees.  However, both the Cook County and Chicago Human Rights Acts prohibit employers with any number of employees from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

To pursue a claim for unlawful sexual orientation discrimination under the IHRA, you must begin by filing a charge at the Illinois Department of Human Rights.  Because there is no federal statute covering sexual orientation discrimination at the moment, the time by which an employee must file this charge is significantly shorter than it is for other types of discrimination.  Thus, employees should contact an attorney as quickly as possible to ensure they maintain their right to file suit.  Only after the Department of Human Rights investigates your claims can you proceed to file a lawsuit in state court.  The Case Law Firm, LLC represents employees from the initial consideration of whether or not to file a charge, all the way through potential litigation.