A number of Illinois laws took effect as of January 1, 2025. Here are some that are of particular interest to business owners and managers.

First off, the state minimum wage has increased to $15 per hour. This increase has been phased in, pursuant to a 2019 amendment to the Minimum Wage Law which has raised the state’s minimum wage every year since then. There are no future increases to the state minimum wage currently scheduled by law. For employees over age 18 in their first 90 days of employment, the minimum wage is $14.50 per hour (other than for day or temporary laborers or occasional or irregular workers). For employees under age 18 who work less than 650 hours per year, the minimum wage is now $13 per hour.

For tipped workers, an employer is entitled to an allowance which effectively reduces the minimum wage to only $9 per hour. However, the Department of Labor is required to have each employer of tipped workers show that its employees actually are receiving sufficient tips to make up the difference and earn the full minimum wage.

Employers must also announce the pay scale and benefits for any specific job posting, whether internal or external. This requirement applies to all employers with at least 15 employees, and only as to positions (a) which are physically performed, at least in part, in Illinois, or (b) which are physically performed outside of Illinois, but for which the employee reports to a supervisor, office, or other work site in Illinois. The information required to be provided consists of the wage or salary, or the wage or salary range, and a general description of the benefits and other compensation, including, but not limited to, bonuses, stock options, or other incentives the employer reasonably expects in good faith to offer for the position, set by reference to any applicable pay scale, the previously determined range for the position, the actual range of others currently holding equivalent positions, or the budgeted amount for the position, as applicable. This information can be provided by a hyperlink to a publicly viewable webpage listed in the job posting.

Any person aggrieved by a violation of the pay scale and benefits law may submit a complaint of an alleged violation to the Department of Labor within one year after the date of the violation. If the Department determines that a violation has occurred, it must issue to the employer a notice setting forth the violation, the applicable penalty, and the period to cure the violation. For a first offense, the employer will have 14 days in which to cure the violation or be fined up to $500 (or up to $250 if the job posting is no longer active). For a second offense, the employer will have 7 days to cure the violation or be fined up to $2,500. For a third or subsequent offense, the employer is not allowed a cure period and can be fined up to $10,000.

The Worker Freedom of Speech Act is intended to prohibit employers from requiring employees to attend meetings or receive messages about religious or political matters. Illinois is the eighth state to adopt such a law.

Under this law, an employer may not discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize an employee, nor threaten to do so or take any adverse employment action, because the employee declines to attend or participate in an employer-sponsored meeting to communicate the opinion of the employer about religious matters or political matters, or because the employee refuses to receive or listen to communications about such matters.

An aggrieved employee can sue the employer within one year of the violation, and may be awarded injunctive relief, reinstatement to their former position or an equivalent position, back pay, reestablishment of employee benefits including seniority, and any other appropriate relief as deemed necessary by the court, as well as reasonable attorney's fees and costs. Furthermore, the Department of Labor itself may investigate violations of this law and impose penalties of $1,000 for each affected employee.

Employers are still allowed to conduct meetings involving religious matters or political matters, so long as attendance is voluntary, or to engage in communications about such matters, so long as receipt or listening is voluntary. The law does not prohibit an employer from requiring its employees to attend any training intended to foster a civil and collaborative workplace or reduce or prevent workplace harassment or discrimination. Furthermore, political organizations as well as tax-exempt social welfare organizations, labor organizations, and business leagues (not including charities) may require employees to attend meetings or receive communications for the purpose of communicating the employer’s political tenets or purposes. The General Assembly and state or local legislative or regulatory bodies may require their employees to attend meetings or participate in communications for the purpose of communicating the employer’s proposals to change legislation, regulations, or public policy. And, naturally, religious organizations may require their employees to attend meetings or participate in communications to communicate the employer's religious beliefs, practices, or tenets.

Finally, one interesting new law passed in 2024 will not take effect until January 1, 2026. An amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act restricts use of artificial intelligence in making employment decisions. For purposes of this amendment, “artificial intelligence” is defined as “a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.” Employers will be prohibited from using artificial intelligence that has the effect of subjecting employees to discrimination on the basis of protected classes or to use zip codes as a proxy for protected classes, when making decisions about recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure, or the terms, privileges, or conditions of employment. Furthermore, an employer must notify employees if it is using artificial intelligence to make such decisions.

The Department of Labor is to adopt any rules necessary for the implementation and enforcement of the artificial intelligence provision. Such rules appear to be particularly necessary with regard to this provision, since it may not be clear what does and does not qualify as the use of artificial intelligence, nor would a rejected job applicant be likely to know whether the employer had used artificial intelligence in acting on their application.

We’ll be happy to help you ensure that your business is compliant with Illinois and Federal law. Feel free to contact Marc Lane in confidence at mlane@marcjlane.com or 312/800-372-1040.

Joshua S. Kreitzer is a Senior Associate Attorney with The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, P.C.