Illinois Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement
Illinois regulates three parts of an employee confidentiality and invention assignment agreement by statute. The Employee Patent Act limits what inventions an employer can claim and requires a written notice at signing. The Freedom to Work Act voids a non-compete for anyone earning $75,000 a year or less and a non-solicit at $45,000 or less, and both floors rise on January 1, 2027.
What Illinois law does to this document
Invention assignment carve-out and notice
An assignment clause does not reach an invention developed entirely on the employee's own time, without the employer's equipment, supplies or facilities and without its trade secret information. The exception does not apply if the invention relates to the employer's business or to its actual or demonstrably anticipated research, or results from work the employee did for the employer. The employer must give the employee written notification of this limit at the time the agreement is made.
765 ILCS 1060/2Earnings floors for restrictive covenants
An employer may not enter into a non-compete unless the employee's actual or expected annualized earnings exceed $75,000. The floor for a covenant not to solicit employees or customers is $45,000. On January 1, 2027 the two figures rise to $80,000 and $47,500, and a covenant signed below the floor is void and unenforceable.
820 ILCS 90/10(a) and (b)Fourteen days and advice to see a lawyer
A non-compete or non-solicit is illegal and void unless the employer advises the employee in writing to consult with an attorney before signing. The employer must also provide a copy at least 14 calendar days before employment starts or give the employee at least 14 calendar days to review it. The employee may choose to sign sooner.
820 ILCS 90/20Consideration and legitimate business interest
The covenant must be supported by adequate consideration, which the Act defines as at least 2 years of continued employment after signing or other professional or financial benefits adequate by themselves. It must also be no broader than needed to protect a legitimate business interest of the employer, impose no undue hardship on the employee, and not injure the public. Courts weigh the totality of the circumstances, and they may decline to rewrite an overbroad covenant.
820 ILCS 90/5, 90/7, 90/15 and 90/35Limits on confidentiality terms
Under the Workplace Transparency Act, a confidentiality clause imposed as a condition of employment is void to the extent it prevents truthful statements about alleged unlawful employment practices or protected concerted activity. A unilateral term that requires an Illinois employee to waive or arbitrate claims of unlawful employment practices, or to bring them under another state's law or outside Illinois, is void to the extent it denies the employee a right or remedy. These rules took their current form on January 1, 2026.
820 ILCS 96/1-25Federal: trade secret immunity notice
This point is federal. The Defend Trade Secrets Act requires an employer to include notice of whistleblower immunity in any agreement with an employee that governs trade secrets or other confidential information. An employer that leaves it out cannot recover exemplary damages or attorney fees under the federal act from that employee.
18 U.S.C. 1833(b)Where people go wrong in Illinois
- Switching off the invention carve-out notice in the generator, when Illinois requires that written notice whenever an employment agreement assigns inventions.
- Relying on the generator's draft for a non-compete or non-solicit as written, when it contains no written advice to consult an attorney and no 14-day review period, and the employer has to add both and confirm the employee clears the earnings floor.
- Using a non-compete or non-solicit for a construction worker, since the Act voids both for most construction employees regardless of pay.
How the generator works
The core IP-and-confidentiality agreement every employee should sign. It assigns work product to the company, protects trade secrets, and handles restrictive covenants to the 2026 rules. Answer a short interview and the draft assembles as you go, with Illinois already set as the governing state. Download it as PDF or Word. No fee. No account.
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