§ 601 — Voluntary leaving

A. An individual shall be ineligible for benefits for the week in which the individual has left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employing unit and, thereafter, until the individual has become reemployed and has had earnings equal to or in excess of the individual's current weekly benefit amount in each of four calendar weeks which are either for services in employment, or have been or will be reported pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act by each employing unit for which such services are performed and which submits a statement certifying to that fact. B. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to an individual who has left work voluntarily: 1. Because the individual, prior to voluntarily leaving: (a) is deemed physically unable to perform the individual's work by a licensed and practicing physician, licensed and practicing nurse practitioner, or licensed and practicing physician assistant and the employer is unable to accommodate the individual; (b) for claims dated December 28, 2025 through December 24, 2028, is deemed to be unable to perform the individual's work due to a mental health disability by a licensed and practicing psychiatrist and the employer is unable to accommodate the individual; or (c) is providing necessary assistance to care for the individual's spouse, child, or parent who, according to a licensed and practicing physician or as otherwise reasonably verified, is in poor physical or mental health or is a person with a mental or physical disability and the employer is unable to accommodate the individual's need to provide such assistance; 2. To accept other bona fide work and, after such acceptance, the individual is either not unemployed in each of 2 weeks, or earns remuneration for such work equal to at least twice the individual's current weekly benefit amount; 3. In lieu of accepting a transfer to other work offered to the individual by the employing unit under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement or pursuant to an established employer plan, program, or policy, if the acceptance of such other work by the individual would require the separation from that work of another individual currently performing it; 4. Solely because of the sexual harassment of the individual by another employee. Sexual harassment means (1) unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, sexually motivated physical contact or other conduct or communication which is made a term or condition of the employment or (2) the employee's submission to or rejection of such conduct or communication which is the basis for decisions affecting employment, or (3) when such conduct or communication has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment and the employer knows or should know of the existence of the harassment and fails to take timely and appropriate action; 5. Which the individual had accepted after separation from other work, and the work which the individual left voluntarily would be deemed unsuitable under the provisions of Section 603; 6.(a) Because the individual left work due to verified domestic violence as defined in Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 where the domestic violence caused the individual to reasonably believe that the individual's continued employment would jeopardize the individual's safety or the safety of the individual's spouse, minor child, or parent if the individual provides the following: (i) notice to the employing unit of the reason for the individual's voluntarily leaving; and (ii) to the Department provides: (A) an order of protection or other documentation of equitable relief issued by a court of competent jurisdiction; or (B) a police report or criminal charges documenting the domestic violence; or (C) medical documentation of the domestic violence; or (D) evidence of domestic violence from a member of the clergy, attorney, counselor, social worker, health worker or domestic violence shelter worker. (b) If the individual does not meet the provisions of subparagraph (a), the individual shall be held to have voluntarily terminated employment for the purpose of determining the individual's eligibility for benefits pursuant to subsection A. (c) Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, evidence of domestic violence experienced by an individual, or the individual's spouse, minor child, or parent, including the individual's statement and corroborating evidence, shall not be disclosed by the Department unless consent for disclosure is given by the individual. 7. Because, due to a change in location of employment of the individual's spouse, the individual left work to accompany the individual's spouse to a place from which it is impractical to commute or because the individual left employment to accompany a spouse who has been reassigned from one military assignment to another. The employer's account, however, shall not be charged for any benefits paid out to the individual who leaves work under a circumstance described in this paragraph. C. Within 90 days of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, the Department shall promulgate rules, pursuant to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act and consistent with Section 903(f)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act, to clarify and provide guidance regarding eligibility and the prevention of fraud. D. On or before January 1, 2030, the Department shall file a report with the General Assembly setting forth the estimated fiscal impact of subparagraph (b) of paragraph 1 of subsection B of Section 601 on the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 104-285, eff. 1-1-26 .)