Index
Employment & LaborIllinois, USA

Illinois Equal Pay Act

Summary

Illinois law strictly forbids employers from paying men and women, or African American and non-African American employees, different wages for doing the same job.

Rights & Rules

  • 01.
    Your employer cannot pay you less than a coworker of the opposite sex, or a coworker of a different race, if you are doing 'substantially similar work' requiring the same skill, effort, and responsibility.
  • 02.
    Exceptions are only allowed for strict seniority systems, merit systems, or systems that measure earnings by quantity or quality of production.
  • 03.
    Employers CANNOT ask you about your past salary history during a job interview.
  • 04.
    Employers CANNOT prohibit you from discussing your salary with your coworkers.

Penalties

  • 01.
    Employees can sue for the entire difference in wages, plus damages up to $10,000, and attorney's fees. Large companies also face massive state fines if they fail to obtain an 'Equal Pay Registration Certificate' proving they don't have a wage gap.

Verified Citations

Illinois Compiled Statutes 820 ILCS 112

Source
"No employer may discriminate between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to an employee at a rate less than the rate at which the employer pays wages to another employee of the opposite sex for the same or substantially similar work..."