The HB 3773 Notice Requirement: What You Must Tell Employees and When

The notice requirement is the part of Illinois HB 3773 most employers underestimate. It sounds simple — "tell people when you're using AI" — but the operational details (who, when, how, and what to actually say) are where companies get caught flat.

Here's what the requirement covers, who it applies to, what a defensible notice looks like in practice, and the most common ways companies get it wrong.

What HB 3773 actually requires

HB 3773 amended the IHRA to require that employers provide notice when AI is used in connection with employment decisions. The statute is intentionally broad: any use of AI that materially affects hiring, promotion, discipline, or termination triggers a disclosure obligation. The notice must be clear enough that a reasonable employee or applicant understands they are being evaluated, in part, by an automated system.

Who must receive notice?

• Applicants who are screened, ranked, or scored by an AI-enabled tool
• Candidates whose video interviews are evaluated or transcribed by AI
• Current employees whose performance, promotion, scheduling, or discipline decisions are AI-informed
• Anyone whose résumé or written submission is summarized or scored by a generative-AI assistant

When the notice must be delivered

Notice must be delivered before the AI is used — not after. For applicants, that typically means at the start of the application flow. For current employees, that means before the relevant evaluation cycle begins. Mid-stream notice doesn't cure a missed disclosure.

What a defensible notice looks like

Plaintiff-side attorneys are increasingly arguing that boilerplate notices buried in twelve pages of T&Cs don't count as meaningful disclosure. A defensible notice has five elements:

1. Plain language — written for an 8th-grade reading level, not a privacy attorney
2. What is being used — name the tool category (e.g., "an AI-assisted résumé screener" or "an automated video-interview scoring tool")
3. What it does — explain in one sentence what the AI evaluates
4. How the decision is used — clarify whether AI ranks, recommends, or finalizes
5. How to ask questions or opt out — provide a real human contact

Three common mistakes

Mistake 1: Boilerplate inside the privacy policy

Notice buried in a 10,000-word privacy policy isn't notice. Courts and regulators read "clear and conspicuous" as exactly that.

Mistake 2: Notice without an inventory

You can't draft accurate notices until you know which tools are in use, what they do, and which decisions they touch. That's why an AI inventory has to come first.

Mistake 3: No human contact for opt-outs or questions

"Email legal@company.com" is not a human contact. The notice should name an actual role or inbox that responds.

What happens if notice is missing

A missing or defective notice is one of the cleanest claims for a plaintiff-side employment attorney to bring, because the failure is documentary — either the notice was delivered or it wasn't. See What an HB 3773 Demand Letter Looks Like for the typical playbook. Damages exposure runs through the IHRA framework — administrative complaints, civil litigation, fees, and reputational cost.

Where to start

Most companies need three things, in this order: a complete inventory of AI use, a standardized notice template, and a delivery workflow with proof of receipt. The Compliance Engagement assembles all three. Or book a Risk Review and we'll show you where you stand in 20 minutes.

Lakeshore is a compliance consultancy, not a law firm. This article is general information and not legal advice.