Illinois Minimum Wage Law Update – Higher Wages and Stiffer Penalties
On February 19, 2019, newly elected Governor J.B. Pritzker fulfilled a campaign promise and signed legislation that will raise the Illinois Minimum Wage. The law made two major changes:
- Raised the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour by 2025
- Significantly increased the penalties for violations of the act – including misclassifying independent contractors
Minimum Wage
Under the new law, the minimum wage will increase annually for all employees over 18. For those employees that are under 18 and work no more than 650 hours in a calendar year, they will be subject to a lower minimum wage.
Businesses that have employees in Chicago or certain Cook County municipalities will need to continue to follow the local minimum wage ordinances which are higher than the Illinois state law. Both the local ordinances update on July 1 and the state law is tied to a Calendar year.
Significant Increase in Penalties for Violations
In addition to the increase in minimum wages across the state, the changes that went into effect on February 19, 2019, significantly increased the penalties for employers that fail to properly pay minimum wage or overtime. This is particularly important for employers that misclassify their workers as independent contractors and may be subject to significant liability as a result of that misclassification.
Under the new law, if an employee is underpaid, they can recover “treble” (three times) the amount of the underpayment. In addition to the treble damages, the statutory monthly damages penalty increases from 2 percent to 5 percent. Finally, there is now an additional penalty of $1,500.00 payable to the Department of Labor’s Wage Theft Enforcement Fund.
Example. If an employee is underpaid $7,500.00 and the employee receives a judgment two years later, the employer will have to pay $33,000 to the employee. The damages are broken down as follows:
- $22,500 in treble damages for the $7,500.00 of unpaid wages
- $9,000.00 (at least) in the 5 percent damage penalty
- $1,500.00 to the Department of Labor
These damages do not include attorneys’ fees, as well as other potential damages under the Federal minimum wage law (FLSA) and the local ordinances.
What does this mean for employers?
Given the significant risk if you are underpaying employees you should evaluate your pay policies and ensure that your company is in compliance. It is important to annually conduct a wage and hour audit to proactively mitigate risk.
Please contact us if you need any assistance complying with the Illinois or Federal Minimum wage and overtime laws at 312-368-0100 or Walker R. Lawrence.
