Pull your free Work Number report from Equifax and request your personnel file, which Illinois employers with five or more employees must provide within 7 working days. Compare every reason your employer has given. Shifting explanations can show pretext, and since 2025 the Illinois Whistleblower Act also covers reports made internally.
Many of the people who call our Chicago office tell the same story. They reported harassment to HR, or told a supervisor that something the company was doing was illegal. An investigation or a write-up followed. Then they were let go, and the explanation was vague, verbal, or missing entirely.
Illinois doesn’t require your employer to tell you why you were fired. But your employer may have already told someone else. Most large employers send payroll data to The Work Number, an Equifax database that lenders, landlords, and employers use to verify jobs and income, and your file there likely includes a code for why you left. You can read it for free. In Illinois, it may be the clearest written statement of the company’s reason you’ll see before a lawsuit.
Your Work Number file is free to read
Request your Employment Data Report at employees.theworknumber.com or by calling 866-604-6570. It’s free once a year, and it lists every company that pulled your file in the past two years. Save a copy to a personal email or personal cloud account, off anything your employer owns. Our guide on how to freeze your Work Number file, fix errors, and see who pulled it covers the rest.
Compare the code to every other reason your employer has given
Your employer usually gives its reason several times: in the termination meeting, in any separation paperwork, to the Illinois Department of Employment Security when you apply for unemployment, to The Work Number, and later in its response to a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights or the EEOC. Different people wrote those at different times, usually before anyone expected a lawsuit.
When they don’t line up, that matters. The federal appeals court that covers Illinois has put it plainly: “One can reasonably infer pretext from an employer’s shifting or inconsistent explanations for the challenged employment decision” (Appelbaum v. Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, 7th Cir. 2003). Pretext means a cover story, and it’s how most retaliation cases are proved, because employers rarely admit they fired someone for reporting. A Work Number code that says “voluntary resignation,” “misconduct,” or “position eliminated” when you were told something else, or told nothing, is a document we want to see.
Most separation codes are accurate and dull. If yours matches what you were told, you’ve spent ten minutes and lost nothing, and the claim, if there is one, will show up somewhere else in your story.
If the code says misconduct and you weren’t a perfect employee, call anyway. Employers often start building a paper trail after someone speaks up. The messy parts of your story are often the evidence.
Illinois gives you your personnel file, and limits how discipline gets passed along
The Illinois Personnel Record Review Act applies to employers with five or more employees (820 ILCS 40). Current employees, and former employees for a year after they leave, can request their personnel file at least twice a year. The employer must respond within 7 working days, with a possible 7-day extension, according to the Illinois Department of Labor. If you disagree with something in the file, you may submit a written statement that must be attached to the disputed record and included whenever it’s shared.
The same law restricts how discipline leaves the building. Before an employer divulges a disciplinary report, reprimand, or other disciplinary action to a third party, it generally must mail you written notice, on or before the day of the disclosure (820 ILCS 40/7). And before releasing your file to a third party, the employer must remove disciplinary records more than four years old (820 ILCS 40/8). There are exceptions, including when you signed a waiver on a job application with another employer.
If your Work Number record, a reference, or anything else your employer shared carried discipline you were never notified about, show it to a lawyer. Whether a particular disclosure counts under this law is a question worth asking.
Illinois expanded protection for people who report
Since January 1, 2025, the Illinois Whistleblower Act protects employees who report suspected violations of law internally, to a supervisor or company officer, as well as to the government. Remedies include reinstatement, back pay with interest, and a $10,000 civil penalty paid to the employee. Read more about whistleblower protection in Illinois. The Illinois Human Rights Act separately prohibits retaliation against people who oppose discrimination or harassment. Taking protected medical or parenting leave is protected too.
Deadlines apply, and one of them changed recently. Since January 1, 2025, you have two years to file a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, up from 300 days. A charge with the EEOC generally must still be filed within 300 days. Other claims have their own clocks. Don’t wait to find out which one applies to you.
Save the report before you dispute anything, and call before you sign anything
You can dispute inaccurate information with The Work Number, and Equifax must reinvestigate within 30 days, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If the code looks like punishment, talk to a lawyer before you file the dispute. Your employer’s response becomes evidence too, and the wording of your dispute matters.
If you’ve been handed a severance agreement, read your report before you sign it. Severance agreements almost always include a release of your claims, and they come with deadlines. Call us first.
Retaliation can continue after your last day
Federal law protects former employees from retaliation. The U.S. Supreme Court settled the point in Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337 (1997), a case about a negative reference given after the employee filed an EEOC charge. Illinois goes further in writing: the Whistleblower Act defines retaliatory action to include interfering with a former employee’s ability to get future work. It excludes truthful, performance-related information given in good faith to a prospective employer who asks for it. If your separation code changes after you file a charge or hire a lawyer, that change may be a new act of retaliation. Pull your report again in six months and compare.
Do this after termination
- Pull your Work Number report and save a copy to a personal account.
- Request your personnel file in writing.
- Write down every reason you’ve been given, when, and by whom.
- Compare those to the Work Number code.
- Call a lawyer before you dispute the code or sign a severance agreement.
Frequently asked questions
Does an Illinois employer have to tell me why I was fired?
Generally, no. Illinois has no law requiring a private employer to give you the reason for your termination in writing. Your employer may still have recorded a reason with The Work Number, and you can read that for free.
Can I see what my employer told The Work Number about why I left?
Yes. Request your free Employment Data Report at employees.theworknumber.com or by calling 866-604-6570. It shows your employment history as your employers reported it, and it lists every company that pulled your file in the past two years.
Can my Illinois employer share my discipline with other companies?
Illinois limits it. Under the Personnel Record Review Act, an employer with five or more employees generally must mail you written notice before divulging a disciplinary report to a third party, and must remove discipline more than four years old before releasing your file. There are exceptions.
Does the Illinois Whistleblower Act protect reports I made to my supervisor?
Yes, since January 1, 2025. The Act protects good-faith reports of suspected violations of law made internally to a supervisor, principal officer, or board member, as well as reports to the government.
How long do I have to file a retaliation charge in Illinois?
Since January 1, 2025, you have two years to file a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. A charge with the EEOC generally must be filed within 300 days. Other claims have their own deadlines.
Working in Minnesota? Read how Minnesota lets you demand the truthful reason for your firing in writing.
Tell us what happened
We represent employees in Illinois who were punished for doing the right thing: reporting discrimination or harassment, reporting violations of law, or taking protected leave. Most people who call us don’t use the word “retaliation.” They tell us what happened, and we find the claim inside the story. A separation code that doesn’t match what you were told is often where it starts.
Tell us what happened. The review is free and confidential. Be sure to save your Work Number report and anything else you have in writing. Our fee is a percentage of what we recover. If we recover nothing, you owe us nothing.
