Illinois Joins a Growing Number of Jurisdictions Rejecting the Federal Portal-to-Portal Act
On March 19, 2026, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a decision determining that Illinois’ state wage-and-hour law, 820 ILCS 105/1 (IMWL), does not incorporate the federal Portal-to-Portal Act’s (PPA) exclusions for “preliminary or postliminary” employee activities. This places Illinois on a list of a growing number of states that outright reject the PPA, thereby significantly increasing employers’ potential wage-and-hour obligations and liabilities. This decision is significant, and every Illinois employer should ensure their policies remain compliant.
By way of background, federal wage-hour law, primarily the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), is considered the “floor” when it comes to employee rights related to wages and compensation. While the FLSA sets the minimum standards employers must adhere to on these subjects, the states are permitted to enact their own wage-and-hour laws. As is often the case, state legislatures have increased employee wage-and-hour protections beyond what is afforded via the FLSA. The federal PPA sets forth a framework to identify what types of employee activities are deemed compensable or non-compensable. Primarily, this determination involves whether to exclude “preliminary” and “postliminary” activities. These are activities that occur before and after the “principal activities” of an employee’s job duties, so long as the activities are not “integral and indispensable” to the employee’s principal job duties. For example, under the PPA, employers are not required to compensate employees for time spent walking, riding, or traveling to and from the actual place of performance of their principal activities, unless otherwise agreed upon by contract or custom.
Many states have enacted wage-and-hour laws that reject the PPA’s standards, and the Johnson v. Amazon.com Services, LLC case placed Illinois on this list. There, a group of employees filed a class action alleging violations of the FLSA and IMWL because they were not compensated for mandatory pre-shift COVID-19 screenings. The federal district court held that those claims were barred by the PPA, finding the screening was preliminary and not integral and indispensable to the employees’ principal job duties. The court similarly dismissed the IMWL claims upon finding that the IMWL generally mirrors the FLSA. On an appeal which eventually was certified to the Supreme Court of Illinois, this decision was overturned.
In a unanimous ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the IMWL does not incorporate the PPA’s exclusion for preliminary and postliminary activities. In rendering this decision, the Court noted that the IMWL does not refer to the PPA or to preliminary or postliminary activities generally, and the Court concluded the Illinois legislature would have expressly incorporated PPA had it intended to do so. Instead, the Court reasoned that the IMWL defines “hours worked” as including “all time an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, which contradicts the potential applicability of any such exclusion.” Employers are required to pay employees for “all time [they are] required to be on duty, or on the employer’s premises, or at other prescribed places of work.” So, the IMWL provides a broader definition of “hours worked” than the PPA. While the Court’s holding provides employees with increased latitude to bring state law claims under the IMWL, the PPA’s preliminary or postliminary activities framework remains a viable defense under the FLSA.
Illinois employers should immediately review their employee policies related to timekeeping and compensation, particularly for employees who are required to engage in pre-shift and post-shift activities.
