The Illinois Equal Pay Act contains provisions that go into effect as of January 1, 2025.  Our hope is to alert impacted employers to key parts of the Act.  We are not employment law attorneys, so direct any specific questions to your legal counsel.  The focus here is on certain pay transparency provisions of the Act that effect employers who have as few as 15 employees.

These are some, but not certainly not all, of the key changes that take effect for employers with 15 or more employees:

1. Employers must post the pay or salary, as well as the benefits for any job posting.   
2. Jobs posted only internally to company employees as well as jobs posted externally on a company's website or through a 3rd party must include pay and benefits.
3. According to the FAQs on the Illinois Department of Labor website, the new law does not apply to a business that posts a "help wanted" sign on its physical premises or website, as there is no specific position or job title identified in the posting.
4. An employer may provide a range of pay, but the range of pay must be reasonable.  For instance, saying that a position will pay "between $1 and $10,000 per hour" would not be reasonable.
5. A range of pay may not be open-ended and must contain a top and bottom end.  A posting such as "$40,000 and up" or "up to $60,000" is not acceptable.  The FAQ section on the IL DOL website indicates "phrases with qualifications such as “pay starts at $50,000 depending on experience” are too vague to provide an applicant with an understanding of what the applicable pay would be."
6. An employer who is seeking external job candidates must also advise current employees about the opportunites for promotion, so that they might apply.
7. The applies to any job opening that is posted after 1-1-25.
8. Any employees of the employer count toward the 15-employee limit, regardless of whether the employees are inside or outside of Illinois, or whether the employees are full- or part-time.
9. The provisions apply whether the pay is by the hour, salary, or for workers who receive tips, bonuses, or commissions.
10. The job posting requirement applies to all notices or publications of employment opportunities that will be physically performed in whole or in part in Illinois, or will be performed outside of Illinois but will answer to a supervisor, office, or other work site in Illinois.

More information can be found on the Illinois DOL website.  In particular, the FAQ section may be helpful for employers to review:  https://labor.illinois.gov/faqs/equal-pay-act-salary-transparency-faq.html