The Illinois Equal Pay Act (820 ILCS 112) has been amended to provide that, effective January 1, 2025,  job postings must include the pay scale and benefits of a position in any job posting. Covered employers include all units of local government and school districts with 15 or more employees. Including a hyperlink with the posting to a “publicly viewable webpage” that includes the pay scale and benefits complies with the law. The information must also be made available when using a third party to publish the job posting, either in the posting or by the third party making it available by hyperlink. Posting a relevant, current general benefits description in an easily accessible, central and public location on an employer’s website and referring to it in the job posting satisfies the “benefits” posting requirement. 

Pay scale and benefits means the wage or salary, or 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, set by reference to any applicable pay scale, the previously determined range for the position, the actual range of others currently holding equivalent positions or the budgeted amount for the position, as applicable.”

The pay scale and benefits for the position must be disclosed to an applicant before any discussion of compensation or offer of employment is made. The pay scale and benefits for the position must be disclosed at an applicant’s request, if a public or internal posting for the job, promotion, transfer or other employment opportunity has not been made available to the applicant.

Employers also must announce, post or otherwise make known all opportunities for promotion to all current employees no later than 14 calendar days after the employer makes an external job posting for the position.  This notice requirement to current employees will not apply to positions exempt from “competitive” selection.  [Job posting is often also required by collective bargaining agreements, so those agreements will have to be checked to ensure that both the contractual and these new statutory requirements are satisfied.]

This amendment does not require employers to create or make a job posting, but applies when one is used. Copies of job postings, with the pay scale and benefit information, are to be kept for at least 5 years, as now required by law for all records that document the name, address and occupation of each employee and the wages they are paid. 

The Amendment requirements become effective January 1, 2025.

The full text of this amendment (Public Act  103 – 0539) is available at the following link:  https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=103-0539&GA=103

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