How much does that job pay? Salary transparency one of many new Illinois laws in 2025
The new year will bring a litany of updated legislation and new laws to Illinois, including overhauled child labor provisions, the option for digital driver’s licenses and more.
Another change to state law will require companies with at least 15 employees to include wage ranges and any applicable benefits information in job listings.
“This one is following a trend that we’re seeing across other states,” Teri Ross, executive director of Illinois Legal Aid Online, said in a recent interview with the News-Democrat.
Several states already require wage information in job listings, including Colorado, California, Washington and more, and Illinois is one of five states where similar legislation will go into effect in 2025, Ross said. Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Vermont will also require pay transparency in 2025.
The Land of Lincoln will begin allowing digital driver’s licenses and mobile identification cards, as well. The digital versions will be issued alongside physical cards and will not phase them out, KSDK reported. Residents can still be required by law enforcement to show the physical card.
The Illinois secretary of state’s office will also be required to issue driver’s licenses that last eight years by 2027.
Here’s what to know about more amendments to Illinois law and new legislation going into effect New Year’s Day 2025.
Protections against discrimination in the workplace
House Bill 2161 will protect employees from discrimination based on family responsibilities, such as child care or caring for an older, sick or disabled relative.
The updated law doesn’t necessarily require employers to make accommodations, Ross said, as that falls under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. The provision’s practical application may become clearer through adjudication, but generally will prevent an employer from refusing to assign work to an employee based on the assumption they won’t be able to complete it due to their family responsibilities, Ross continued.
Another update to employment discrimination law concerns reproductive rights. The updated Illinois Human Rights Act will include reproductive health decisions such as abortion, birth control use, birthing plans and maternity care as a protected characteristic from discrimination. The Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act still provides religious exemptions for health care workers in certain situations.
Child labor law updates
Illinois’ child labor provisions will be overhauled with the “Child Labor Law of 2024,” in effect in the new year. The state’s child labor law has a broad purpose to protect the health, safety and educational interests of children younger than 16, Ross said.
“While neighboring states weaken their child labor laws, in Illinois we’re modernizing our regulatory framework to further protect minors from unscrupulous employers,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a July 30 press release. “Minors should be able to experience safe, age-appropriate work in an educational setting, and I’m proud of the added protections my administration and the General Assembly advanced through this bill.”
Children ages 14 and 15 have to secure a permit to hold a job in Illinois, though some work such as babysitting and farming is exempt. Some provisions of the state’s child labor law apply only to those younger than 16, while others apply to all minors working in the state.
Exceptions to the law are also made in certain situations, such as allowing children working for park districts or in theatrical productions to work different schedules.
Updates to Illinois’ child labor law include:
A new requirement for a school official issuing a work permit to consider the “health, welfare and education” of the child when evaluating an application.
Requiring the work permit application to include the child’s work schedule.
Limiting the number of hours a child can work to 18 hours per week when school is in session and 40 hours per week when school is not in session, such as the summer.
Minors will not be allowed to work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. from Labor Day to June 1 or 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. June 1 to Labor Day.
Pay equity for employees with disabilities
The Dignity in Pay Act will require Illinois employers to pay employees who have physical, intellectual, developmental or sensory disabilities the standard minimum wage by Dec. 31, 2029.
“Paying workers with disabilities subminimum wages perpetuates harmful, unfair, and inaccurate stereotypes about the potential and worth of people with disabilities, affects their capacity to earn wages equivalent to those of their peers without disabilities, and diminishes the expectations about and perceived value of their contributions to the workforce and society,” the law reads, in part.
The Dignity in Pay Act says Section 14 (c) of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to pay employees with disabilities subminimum wages, and the national average wage for employees who work under a 14(c) certificate is approximately $3 an hour, the text says.
Illinois ranks second in the U.S. for the greatest number of 14(c) certificates issued or pending, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2022. The Dignity in Pay Act will phase out 14(c) certificates within the state.
Illinois’ overall minimum wage will increase to $15 per hour Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.
More new Illinois laws for 2025
Illinois Legal Aid Online reports Gov. Pritzker signed more than 425 bills into law in 2024. Here’s what to know about some of the legislation that will go into effect soon.
The Illinois Insurance Code will be amended to require companies within the state that provide health insurance to cover certain care with no deductible or copay, including an annual cervical or pap test or prostate cancer screening regardless of the insured patient’s gender.
Another health-related provision will also be updated to require new insurance plans to cover medically necessary hearing aids for everyone — the previous version of the law only covered minors.
Insurance companies will also be required to limit the total cost of a two-pack of medically necessary epinephrine injectors, commonly referred to as EpiPens, to $60. Updated state laws will additionally require insurance companies to cover at-home pregnancy tests and vaccines under policies issued or renewed after Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026.
The Illinois School Code will be amended to ban corporal punishment in all schools within the state, including private institutions. Corporal punishment has been banned in Illinois public schools since 1994, PBS reports. The only exception is a student may still be restrained if they are trying to harm themselves or someone else.
It will be easier to cancel a gym membership in Illinois in 2025, as the state will require gyms to allow cancellations by phone call, email or online.
This story was updated around 3 p.m. Dec. 17 to correct the date the subminimum wage will be phased out in Illinois. A previous version of the story linked an earlier version of the bill with an earlier date.
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This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
