Illinois combines a rising minimum wage schedule, mandatory meal breaks, and the Chicago-specific Fair Workweek Ordinance for predictive scheduling. The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) enforces wage and hour violations.
Illinois minimum wage is $14.00/hour from 1 January 2024, rising to $15.00/hour on 1 January 2025. Youth wage (under 18, ≤650 hours/year) is 50¢ less than the adult rate. Chicago and Cook County have separate, higher ordinances.
How ClockIt Helps
ClockIt stores the Illinois minimum wage schedule with automatic effective-date transitions and supports youth worker age-based rate flags to prevent inadvertent overpayment or underpayment.
Illinois law requires a 20-minute unpaid meal break for any shift exceeding 7.5 hours, to be given no later than 5 hours into the shift. A nursing mother break of 30 minutes (unpaid, for shifts over 4 hours) must also be provided for up to one year after the child's birth.
How ClockIt Helps
ClockIt schedules and tracks meal break compliance for all Illinois shifts, automatically flagging schedules that would exceed the 5-hour threshold without a recorded break.
Covered employers (retail, hotel, restaurant, building services, and healthcare) in Chicago with 100+ employees globally must provide schedules at least 10 days in advance (increasing to 14 days by 2024). Changes within the notice window trigger predictability pay—from 1 to 4 hours at the employee's regular rate.
How ClockIt Helps
ClockIt's scheduling module timestamps all schedule postings, tracks employee notification, and automatically calculates predictability pay when a Chicago-covered employee's schedule is changed within the advance notice window.
Never worry about missing an overtime threshold, break penalty, or leave entitlement again.
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