Illinois Separation and Release Agreement
In Illinois, a separation agreement that includes confidentiality about alleged unlawful employment practices must meet the Workplace Transparency Act. That means 21 calendar days to consider, 7 calendar days to revoke, and separate consideration for the confidentiality promise, whatever the employee's age. Final wages and earned vacation are owed whether or not the employee signs, and unemployment benefits cannot be released.
What Illinois law does to this document
Conditions for a confidentiality promise
A settlement or termination agreement may include confidentiality about alleged unlawful employment practices only if six conditions are met. Confidentiality must be the documented preference of the employee and mutually beneficial, and the employer must give written notice of the right to have an attorney or representative review the agreement. There must be bargained-for consideration for confidentiality that is separate from the consideration for the release, as the section reads after its amendment effective January 1, 2026. The employee gets 21 calendar days to consider the agreement and 7 calendar days after signing to revoke it.
820 ILCS 96/1-30(a)What the employer cannot write in
An employer may not unilaterally include a clause that prohibits truthful statements about unlawful employment practices, or a clause reciting that confidentiality is the employee's preference. A confidentiality promise is valid only if the agreement does not waive claims of unlawful employment practices that accrue after it is signed. A waiver of the right to testify under subpoena or agency request about alleged criminal conduct or unlawful employment practices is void. A confidentiality promise that fails these rules is void and severable, and an employee who successfully challenges it is entitled to damages, attorney's fees and costs.
820 ILCS 96/1-30(b) and (c), 96/1-35 and 96/1-40Final pay and earned vacation
Final compensation must be paid in full at separation if possible, and no later than the next regularly scheduled payday. Where a contract or policy provides paid vacation, the value of all earned unused vacation is part of final compensation, and no contract or policy may provide for its forfeiture on separation. These amounts are owed apart from any severance.
820 ILCS 115/5Claims a release cannot cover
Any agreement by an individual to waive or release rights under the Unemployment Insurance Act is void. An employee also has no power to waive the Workers' Compensation Act's provisions on the amount of compensation payable unless the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission approves.
820 ILCS 405/1300(A); 820 ILCS 305/23Group layoffs and Illinois WARN
The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act applies to a business with 75 or more employees, not counting part-time employees. It requires 60 days' written notice to affected employees and to state and local officials before a mass layoff, relocation or employment loss covered by the Act. A severance program for a group reduction does not replace that notice.
820 ILCS 65/5 and 65/10Federal: age claims
This point is federal. To release an age discrimination claim, an employee aged 40 or older must be advised in writing to consult an attorney, given at least 21 days to consider the agreement, and given at least 7 days after signing to revoke. The period is 45 days for a group exit program, and the employer must then disclose the job titles and ages of those selected and not selected.
29 U.S.C. 626(f)(1)Where people go wrong in Illinois
- Choosing the generator's 7-day or 14-day option for an employee under 40 when the agreement includes confidentiality about alleged unlawful employment practices, because Illinois requires 21 calendar days and a 7-day revocation period regardless of age and the under-40 draft has no revocation clause.
- Treating the severance payment as the only consideration, as the generator's draft does, when a confidentiality promise about alleged unlawful employment practices needs its own bargained-for consideration.
- Making final wages or earned vacation pay depend on signing the release, when both are due by the next regular payday in any case.
How the generator works
A severance-for-release agreement that trades a defined severance payment for a general release of claims, with the ADEA/OWBPA machinery for employees 40+ and 2026-current disclosure and carve-out language. 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.