Illinois salary laws set a $15.00 statewide minimum wage, require overtime past 40 hours in a week, guarantee a final paycheck by the next regular payday, limit what employers can deduct from your pay, bar questions about your salary history, and now require most employers to publish pay ranges in job postings. The rules come from several statutes layered together, and the Illinois Department of Labor enforces most of them. Chicago and suburban Cook County add their own higher floors on top.
What Is the Minimum Wage
Under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law (820 ILCS 105), the statewide minimum for workers 18 and older is $15.00 per hour.1Illinois Department of Labor. Minimum Wage Law The federal minimum sits at $7.25, so the state rate controls for essentially every Illinois worker.
Local rates can push that number higher. Chicago’s minimum wage as of July 1, 2025 is $16.60 per hour for employers with four or more employees, and the city recalculates it every July based on the Consumer Price Index.2City of Chicago. Minimum Wage Suburban Cook County’s minimum is $15.00 per hour for non-tipped workers as of the same date.3Cook County. Minimum Wage Ordinance and Regulations When state, county, and city rates all technically apply where you work, you’re entitled to whichever is highest.
Tipped Workers
Employers may pay tipped employees 60 percent of the applicable minimum, which is $9.00 per hour at the state level.1Illinois Department of Labor. Minimum Wage Law If your direct wage plus tips doesn’t reach the full minimum in a given pay period, your employer has to cover the difference. Chicago’s tipped rate uses the same structure applied to its higher local minimum.
Overtime
Most Illinois workers earn overtime at one and a half times their regular hourly rate for every hour over 40 in a single workweek, under 820 ILCS 105/4a.1Illinois Department of Labor. Minimum Wage Law An employer can’t average your hours across two weeks to avoid paying it. If you worked 50 hours one week and 30 the next, that first week still owes you overtime.
Your “regular rate” isn’t always just your base hourly pay. Non-discretionary bonuses, meaning bonuses tied to attendance, safety, production, or any other promised formula, have to be folded into the regular rate before the overtime multiplier is applied. A bonus only stays out if the employer alone decides both whether to pay it and how much, with no prior promise.
Who Doesn’t Get Overtime
Illinois follows the federal framework for overtime exemptions. The main exempt categories are bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees.4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 105/4a To qualify, your actual duties must fit the federal definition for that role and you have to earn at least $684 per week in salary, or $35,568 annualized.5U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemptions A job title alone doesn’t make you exempt.
Illinois law also exempts auto salespeople and dealership mechanics, agricultural workers, commissioned employees of retail or service establishments, and certain employees of nonprofit child care institutions.4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 105/4a Being misclassified as exempt when you don’t actually meet the duties test is one of the more common ways workers lose money, and the back pay can go back years.
How Often You Have To Be Paid
The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (820 ILCS 115) requires employers to pay all wages at least twice a month, covering each semi-monthly pay period.6Illinois Department of Labor. Wage Payment and Collection Act More frequent is fine; less isn’t. Executive, administrative, and professional employees can be paid once a month if both sides agree.
Your Final Paycheck
When your job ends, whether you quit or you’re fired, your employer must deliver your final paycheck by the next regularly scheduled payday. That check has to include all earned wages, commissions, bonuses, and any other compensation owed.
Accrued but unused vacation gets paid out at separation too.6Illinois Department of Labor. Wage Payment and Collection Act “Use it or lose it” clauses that try to forfeit earned vacation when you leave aren’t enforceable in Illinois, and the payout is calculated at your final rate of pay. Handbook language saying otherwise doesn’t override the statute.
What Can and Can’t Come Out of Your Check
Under 820 ILCS 115/9, deductions from wages are prohibited unless they fit one of a few categories: required by law (taxes, court-ordered garnishments), for your benefit (insurance premiums, retirement contributions), ordered through a valid wage assignment, or made with your express written consent given freely at the time of the deduction. A blanket authorization signed during onboarding does not satisfy that last category when the deduction actually happens months later.
Cash register shortages, broken equipment, uniforms, customer walkouts: your employer can’t take any of it out of your check without your written agreement, no matter what the handbook says. And even with consent, a deduction that would drop your effective hourly rate below minimum wage or eat into overtime you’ve already earned is illegal.
Salary History and Pay Transparency
Two newer rules under the Illinois Equal Pay Act (820 ILCS 112) shape what happens before you’re hired and what you learn about a job before you apply.
Employers Can’t Ask What You Used To Make
Employers are barred from asking about your current or prior pay during hiring.7Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 112/10 The ban covers direct questions, screening applicants against a salary threshold, and contacting prior employers to look it up. Employment agencies working on an employer’s behalf are bound by the same rule.
Even if you volunteer your salary history, the employer still can’t use it to decide whether to hire you, what to offer, or how to set your future pay.8Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 112/10 Violations carry civil penalties of up to $5,000 for each employee affected.9Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 112/30
The same law protects your right to discuss wages with coworkers. Your employer can’t retaliate against you for asking a colleague what they earn or sharing what you make.10Illinois Department of Labor. Unequal Pay Under the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003
Pay Ranges Have To Appear in Job Postings
Since January 1, 2025, employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale and a description of benefits in every job posting, internal or external.11Illinois Department of Labor. Pay Transparency and Promotional Opportunity Under the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 It applies to any position performed at least partly in Illinois, or that reports to a supervisor, office, or worksite in Illinois. Employers aren’t required to post openings at all, but when they do, the transparency rules apply.
The posted range has to be a good-faith salary or wage range the employer actually expects to pay, plus a general description of bonuses, stock options, health coverage, and other compensation. A number pulled out of thin air to satisfy the rule doesn’t comply.
Penalties depend on whether the posting is still active when the Department flags it and how many prior offenses the employer has:9Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 112/30
- Active postings: up to $500 for a first offense (14-day cure period), up to $2,500 for a second (7-day cure), and up to $10,000 for a third or later offense with no cure.
- Inactive postings: up to $250 for a first offense, up to $2,500 for a second, and up to $10,000 for a third or later.
Three or more violations trigger a five-year window of automatic penalties with no cure opportunity, and any further violation during that window restarts the five-year clock.12Illinois Department of Labor. Equal Pay Act Pay Transparency FAQ
Meal and Rest Breaks
Under the One Day Rest in Seven Act (820 ILCS 140), employers must provide a meal break of at least 20 minutes for every shift of 7.5 continuous hours or more, starting no later than five hours into the shift.13Illinois Department of Labor. One Day Rest In Seven Act If you work past that first 7.5-hour window, you get another 20-minute meal period for every additional 4.5 continuous hours. Reasonable restroom breaks are required on top of that. The same law guarantees at least 24 consecutive hours of rest in each calendar week. An employer who pressures you to eat at your desk or skip the break still violates the statute even if you nominally agree.
If Your Employer Underpays You
Under 820 ILCS 115/14, an employee who isn’t paid what they’re owed can recover the full unpaid amount plus damages of 5 percent of the underpayment for each month it stays outstanding. In a lawsuit, you can also recover attorney’s fees and court costs. Willful refusal to pay carries criminal exposure as well, and if the Department orders payment and the employer ignores it, a separate 1 percent per day penalty accrues for the employee.
To start a wage claim, you file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Labor’s wage claims division. The filing deadline is one year after the wages were due, and the Department can investigate unpaid wages going back three years from the date you file.14Illinois Department of Labor. Filing A Claim – FAQs Filing costs nothing and you don’t need an attorney to start. You can bring a civil lawsuit instead, but not both for the same wages. For large claims or a pattern of violations across coworkers, talking to an employment attorney before choosing the administrative route or a lawsuit is worth the time.