Starting January 1, 2025, Illinois will join a growing list of states that require employers to provide salary and benefits information on job postings. The trend in salary transparency laws reflects the public policy goal of cultivating a more transparent and equitable employment market.
New Pay Transparency Requirements in Illinois
As of January 1, 2025, Illinois will enforce new pay transparency requirements for employers under amendments to the Illinois Equal Pay Act (“Act”). Signed into law by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker back in August 2023, the amendments will require employers with 15 or more employees to include “pay scale and benefits” information in all job postings. Employers may include this information on the job posting itself or provide it via a hyperlink to a publicly viewable page on the employer’s website. The law also requires employers to send the required information to third parties (i.e., external recruiters) that make or list the employer’s job postings.
The Illinois Department of Labor’s FAQ page clarifies what is meant by “pay scale and benefits.” Specifically, employers must provide “the anticipated 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.” Additional guidance is likely to follow in the form of published regulations.
Importantly, the requirement to provide “pay scale and benefits” information applies to both internal and external postings and covers positions physically worked within Illinois as well as roles based outside the state where employees report to an Illinois-based supervisor, office or work site. Employers located outside of Illinois must comply if they had a “reason to know or reasonably foresee” at the time of the posting that at least part of the work would be performed in Illinois.
Failure to comply may result in financial penalties of up to $10,000 per violation. The amendments also provide retaliation protection for individuals who request “pay scale and benefits” information or file complaints under the Act.
Pay Transparency Trending Across the U.S.
Within the past two years, California, Hawaii, Rhode Island and New York passed some form of a pay transparency law. In addition to Illinois, four other states—Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Vermont—have pay transparency laws taking effect in 2025. Other states, including Michigan and Missouri, have proposed similar pay transparency legislation. Even in states where pay transparency laws have not yet been implemented or considered, job candidates across the country seem to be expecting greater transparency regarding the pay and benefits of posted jobs.
At the federal level, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia, introduced the Salary Transparency Act in 2023, which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act and require employers nationwide to disclose wage ranges in job postings. The Salary Transparency Act has been pending in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce since March 14, 2023.
Practical Takeaways
- Because there is currently no uniform federal law and pay transparency rules, multi-state employers must understand the specific requirements related to pay transparency laws in the states in which they operate.
- Employers may need to revise job posting templates, recruitment materials and internal processes to ensure they are meeting applicable pay transparency requirements.
- Even those employers who do not operate in states with pay transparency laws should consider proactive pay transparency efforts in order to gain favor with job candidates and remain competitive in recruitment.
If you have questions about pay transparency or these changes, please feel free to contact:
- Jonathan Bumgarner at (317) 977-1474 or jbumgarner@hallrender.com;
- Diana White at (317) 429-3616 or dwhite@hallrender.com; or
- Your Primary Hall Render contact.
Special thanks to Becca Foerder for her assistance in writing this article.
Hall Render blog posts and articles are intended for informational purposes only. For ethical reasons, Hall Render attorneys cannot—outside of an attorney-client relationship—answer specific questions that would be legal advice.
