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  "data": {
    "topic": "expense-reimbursement",
    "state": "illinois",
    "frontmatter": {
      "title": "Employee Expense Reimbursement in Illinois",
      "description": "Illinois law requires reimbursement of authorized necessary work expenses and sets rules for written policies, documentation, and submission time.",
      "state": "Illinois",
      "lastReviewed": "2026-09-30",
      "license": "CC BY 4.0",
      "authors": [
        "steven-obiajulu"
      ],
      "summary": {
        "reimbursementMandate": "authorizedExpenses",
        "bottomLine": "Illinois employers must reimburse necessary work expenses they authorize or require, subject to the statute's written policy and submission rules.",
        "keyLaw": [
          {
            "source": "il-duty-a"
          }
        ],
        "remoteWorkExpenses": "authorizedCostsOnly",
        "waiverAllowed": "limitedByStatute"
      },
      "about": [
        "employee expenses",
        "necessary expenditures",
        "remote work costs",
        "written expense policies"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "language": "中文",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Español",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Português",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Deutsch",
          "status": "planned"
        }
      ]
    },
    "questions": [
      {
        "slug": "reimbursement-duty",
        "label": "Must an employer reimburse an employee for business expenses?",
        "heading": "Must an employer in Illinois reimburse employee business expenses?",
        "answerText": "An Illinois employer must reimburse necessary expenses or losses within an employee's work duties and directly related to its services when the employer authorized or required the expense. The statute also allows liability when the employer fails to follow its own written reimbursement policy.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "il-duty-a",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(a)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(a) requires reimbursement of necessary work expenditures or losses directly related to employer services.",
            "verbatimQuote": "(a) An employer shall reimburse an employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee within the employee's scope of employment and directly related to services performed for the employer.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-duty-a"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-duty-b",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(b)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(b) limits employer liability to authorized or required necessary expenses or a breach of the employer's own written reimbursement policy.",
            "verbatimQuote": "An employer is not liable under this Section unless the employer authorized or required the employee to incur the necessary expenditure or the employer failed to comply with its own written expense reimbursement policy.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-duty-b"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "covered-expenses",
        "label": "Which expenses does the reimbursement rule cover, and which does it exclude?",
        "heading": "Which business expenses must an Illinois employer reimburse?",
        "answerText": "Illinois law covers reasonable expenses or losses required for work duties that primarily benefit the employer. The employer is not responsible for losses caused by the employee's negligence, normal wear, or theft unless the employer's negligence caused the theft. Liability also requires employer authorization or a requirement to incur the expense, unless the employer failed to follow its own written policy.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "il-covered-definition",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(a)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(a) defines necessary expenditures as reasonable work-required expenses or losses primarily benefiting the employer.",
            "verbatimQuote": "As used in this Section, \"necessary expenditures\" means all reasonable expenditures or losses required of the employee in the discharge of employment duties and that inure to the primary benefit of the employer.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-covered-definition"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-covered-exclusions",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(a)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(a) excludes employee-negligence and normal-wear losses and theft losses unless employer negligence caused the theft.",
            "verbatimQuote": "An employer is not responsible for losses due to an employee's own negligence, losses due to normal wear, or losses due to theft unless the theft was a result of the employer's negligence.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-covered-exclusions"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-covered-authorization",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(b)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(b) requires employer authorization or a requirement to incur a necessary expense, or a breach of the employer's written policy, for liability.",
            "verbatimQuote": "An employer is not liable under this Section unless the employer authorized or required the employee to incur the necessary expenditure or the employer failed to comply with its own written expense reimbursement policy.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-covered-authorization"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "remote-work-costs",
        "label": "Does the rule reach remote-work costs such as home internet or a personal phone?",
        "heading": "Must an Illinois employer reimburse remote-work costs such as home internet or a personal phone?",
        "answerText": "An Illinois employer must reimburse a remote-work cost only when it is a necessary work expense that the employer authorized or required, or when the employer failed to follow its own written policy. Section 9.5 does not separately name home internet, personal phones, or remote work. A cost's connection to remote work alone does not establish reimbursement under the statutory test.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "il-remote-definition",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(a)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(a) defines necessary expenditures as reasonable work-required expenses or losses primarily benefiting the employer.",
            "verbatimQuote": "As used in this Section, \"necessary expenditures\" means all reasonable expenditures or losses required of the employee in the discharge of employment duties and that inure to the primary benefit of the employer.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-remote-definition"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-remote-authorization",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(b)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(b) limits liability to authorized or required necessary expenses or failure to follow the employer's written policy.",
            "verbatimQuote": "An employer is not liable under this Section unless the employer authorized or required the employee to incur the necessary expenditure or the employer failed to comply with its own written expense reimbursement policy.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-remote-authorization"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-remote-text",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(a)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(a) states a general necessary-expenditure rule without naming remote work, home internet, or personal phones.",
            "verbatimQuote": "(a) An employer shall reimburse an employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee within the employee's scope of employment and directly related to services performed for the employer. As used in this Section, \"necessary expenditures\" means all reasonable expenditures or losses required of the employee in the discharge of employment duties and that inure to the primary benefit of the employer.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-remote-text"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "waiver",
        "label": "Can an offer letter, policy, or agreement waive or limit reimbursement?",
        "heading": "Can an offer letter or expense policy in Illinois make the employee bear business expenses?",
        "answerText": "An Illinois employer may use a written policy to limit reimbursement above its expense specifications, but the policy cannot provide no reimbursement or only de minimis reimbursement. An employee who fails to follow an established written reimbursement policy is not entitled to reimbursement under Section 9.5. Section 9.5 does not give an offer letter or agreement a separate power to erase the reimbursement duty.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "il-waiver-cap",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(b)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(b) permits written policy limits on excess expenses but forbids policies providing no or de minimis reimbursement.",
            "verbatimQuote": "If the written expense reimbursement policy of an employer establishes specifications or guidelines for necessary expenditures, the employer is not liable under this Section for the portion of the expenditure amount that exceeds the specifications or guidelines of the policy so long as the employer does not institute a policy that provides for no reimbursement or de minimis reimbursement.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-waiver-cap"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-waiver-compliance",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(b)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(b) denies reimbursement under the section when an employee fails to comply with an established written reimbursement policy.",
            "verbatimQuote": "(b) An employee is not entitled to reimbursement under this Section if (i) the employer has an established written expense reimbursement policy and (ii) the employee failed to comply with the written expense reimbursement policy.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-waiver-compliance"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-waiver-duty",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(a)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(a) imposes a reimbursement duty for necessary work expenses.",
            "verbatimQuote": "(a) An employer shall reimburse an employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee within the employee's scope of employment and directly related to services performed for the employer.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-waiver-duty"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "deadlines-and-remedies",
        "label": "What deadlines and remedies apply to unreimbursed expenses?",
        "heading": "What happens in Illinois if an employer does not reimburse expenses?",
        "answerText": "When an Illinois employer denies a request for an expense that should have been reimbursable, including by telling the employee not to seek reimbursement or by not responding, the employee may file a claim with the Illinois Department of Labor. Expenses the employee cannot recover during employment are included in the final compensation owed when the employment ends.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "ilcs-115-9-5-thirty-day-submission",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(a)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(a) requires submission within 30 calendar days and allows a written policy to give more time.",
            "verbatimQuote": "An employee shall submit any necessary expenditure with appropriate supporting documentation within 30 calendar days after incurring the expense, except that an employer may provide additional time for submitting requests for reimbursement in a written expense reimbursement policy.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-ilcs-115-9-5-thirty-day-submission"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-missing-receipts",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "820 ILCS 115/9.5",
            "citation": "820 ILCS 115/9.5(a)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K9.5.htm",
            "proposition": "Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5(a) requires a signed statement when supporting documentation is nonexistent, missing, or lost.",
            "verbatimQuote": "Where supporting documentation is nonexistent, missing, or lost, the employee shall submit a signed statement regarding any such receipts.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-missing-receipts"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-admin-300-540-department-claim",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "56 Ill. Adm. Code 300.540",
            "citation": "56 Ill. Adm. Code 300.540(b)(1)(A)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/056/056003000B05400R.html",
            "proposition": "56 Ill. Adm. Code 300.540(b)(1)(A) treats an employer's statement that an employee may not seek reimbursement, or its failure to respond to a request, as a denial, and lets the employee file a claim with the Illinois Department of Labor for a reimbursable expense.",
            "verbatimQuote": "1) If an employer denies a request for reimbursement that should have been reimbursable according to subsection (a), the following shall apply: A) If an employer has informed an employee that they are not entitled to seek reimbursement, or has failed to respond to an employee’s request for reimbursement, that shall be considered a denial of reimbursement and the employee may file a claim against the employer with the Department seeking reimbursement for expenses as provided under subsection (a); and",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-admin-300-540-department-claim"
          },
          {
            "id": "il-admin-300-540-final-compensation",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "56 Ill. Adm. Code 300.540",
            "citation": "56 Ill. Adm. Code 300.540(b)(1)(B)",
            "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/056/056003000B05400R.html",
            "proposition": "56 Ill. Adm. Code 300.540(b)(1)(B) includes expenses an employee could not recover during employment in the final compensation owed at the end of employment.",
            "verbatimQuote": "B) If an employee cannot recover expenses incurred related to services performed for the employer during the course of the employee's employment, these expenses shall be included in the final compensation owed to an employee at the end of the employee's employment, in accordance with the Act.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-il-admin-300-540-final-compensation"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "federal-floor",
        "label": "What does federal law add?",
        "heading": "How does federal minimum-wage law limit unreimbursed expenses in Illinois?",
        "answerText": "Under 29 C.F.R. § 531.35, an employer that requires an employee to supply tools of the trade for the job violates the Fair Labor Standards Act in any workweek in which the employee's cost cuts into the minimum or overtime wages due. The regulation rests on the rule that wages count as paid only when they are paid free and clear, with no kick-back to the employer.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "fed-531-35-tools",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35",
            "citation": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35",
            "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-A/part-531/subpart-C/subject-group-ECFRd42c2e4b995d7cd/section-531.35",
            "proposition": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35 states that when an employer requires an employee to provide tools of the trade for the employer's work, the Fair Labor Standards Act is violated in any workweek in which the employee's cost of those tools cuts into the minimum or overtime wages required under the Act.",
            "verbatimQuote": "For example, if it is a requirement of the employer that the employee must provide tools of the trade which will be used in or are specifically required for the performance of the employer's particular work, there would be a violation of the Act in any workweek when the cost of such tools purchased by the employee cuts into the minimum or overtime wages required to be paid him under the Act.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-fed-531-35-tools"
          },
          {
            "id": "fed-531-35-free-and-clear",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35",
            "citation": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35",
            "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-A/part-531/subpart-C/subject-group-ECFRd42c2e4b995d7cd/section-531.35",
            "proposition": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35 states that wages are not considered paid unless they are paid finally and unconditionally, or free and clear.",
            "verbatimQuote": "Whether in cash or in facilities, “wages” cannot be considered to have been paid by the employer and received by the employee unless they are paid finally and unconditionally or “free and clear.”",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-fed-531-35-free-and-clear"
          },
          {
            "id": "fed-531-35-kickback",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35",
            "citation": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35",
            "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-A/part-531/subpart-C/subject-group-ECFRd42c2e4b995d7cd/section-531.35",
            "proposition": "29 C.F.R. § 531.35 states that the Fair Labor Standards Act's wage requirements are not met when an employee kicks back all or part of the wage to the employer or to another person for the employer's benefit.",
            "verbatimQuote": "The wage requirements of the Act will not be met where the employee “kicks-back” directly or indirectly to the employer or to another person for the employer's benefit the whole or part of the wage delivered to the employee.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/expense-reimbursement/us/illinois#src-fed-531-35-kickback"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}