The Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) Office of Labor Standards (COLS) recently posted updates to its website regarding minimum wage obligations, paid leave and paid sick and safe leave, new fair work week thresholds, and updated required labor notices. The compliance deadline for these obligations is July 1, 2024. Employers should carefully review these new rules and ensure new notices are posted, provided with employees' first paychecks, and sent to employees by the July deadline.
Minimum Wage – Effective July 1, 2024
General Minimum Wage
A standard employer in Chicago with four or more employees must pay its employees a new minimum hourly wage of $16.20 (overtime minimum: $24.30). Hourly youth workers must receive $15.00 per hour (overtime: $22.50).
Tipped Employees
The new minimum hourly wage for tipped workers is $11.02 (overtime for tipped workers: $19.12). Youth tipped workers must receive a minimum hourly wage of $10.20 (overtime for tipped youth works: $17.70).
For tipped employees, if the tipped wage plus tips does not equal the standard minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.
Notice and Posting Requirements
Notice of the current minimum wage must be issued with each covered employee's first paycheck, and annually with a paycheck issued within 30 days of July 1st. This obligation applies to employers irrespective of whether they maintain a business facility within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago.1
In addition, for employers that maintain a business facility within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago, the updated notice must be displayed in a conspicuous place at each facility located in Chicago. If the employer does not maintain a physical business facility, dissemination of the notice through the employer's internal communication channels satisfies this requirement.
Fair Work Week Thresholds and Notice – Effective July 1, 2024
By now, covered employers in Chicago will be familiar with the Fair Work Week ordinance and its predictive scheduling requirements. In sum, covered employers must post schedules 14 days prior to the start of the work schedule. Employer-initiated changes to the schedule that do not fall within an exception will trigger an obligation to provide predictability pay to covered employees.
New Thresholds
Effective July 1, 2024, employees working for covered employers are covered by the ordinance if they make no more than a yearly salary of $61,149.35 or $31.85 per hour. When the Fair Work Week ordinance was enacted in 2020, the thresholds were $50,000 per year, or $26.00 per hour, and the thresholds have changed yearly effective July 1. Most recently, from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, the thresholds were $59,151.50 per year, or $30.80 per hour. Given this recent increase, covered employers should review their payroll and scheduling policies and procedures to ensure continued compliance for all covered employees.
Notice and Posting Requirements
The Updated Fair Work Week Notice must be issued to covered employees with the first paycheck, and annually with the first paycheck on or following July 1.
Employers must post the notice provided by BACP through the employers' usual methods of communication for such notices, whether by paper posting or by electronic dissemination through the employers' internal communication channels. When posting a paper notice, the notice must be printed on and scaled to fill a sheet of paper that measures 11 inches by 17 inches.
All notices must be posted in English and any language(s) spoken by employees at the facility who are not proficient in English and in which the BACP has provided non-English language notices.
Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave – Effective July 1, 2024
Notice and Posting Requirements
The Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave Notice must be issued to the employee in several ways:
- New Hire Notice: The Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave Notice must be provided to newly hired employees with the employee's first paycheck, prior to commencement of the employee's employment, or as part of an onboarding process.
- Annual Notice: The Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave Notice must be sent annually to each covered employee with a paycheck issued within 30 days of July 1st. The annual notice may be provided by paper or electronic means through the employer's internal communication channels.
- Workplace Notice/Poster: For employers that maintain a facility within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago, the updated Notice must be displayed in a conspicuous place at each facility located in Chicago. For employers that do not maintain a facility within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago and for employers that have remote employees in Chicago, the Notice should be posted through the employer's usual methods of communication for such notices, whether by paper posting or electronic dissemination through the employer's internal communication channels. The Notice must be posted in English and other languages if at least 5% or more of employees at a jobsite are not literate in English.
Wage Theft Notice
Notice and Posting Requirements
For employers that maintain a business facility within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago, the updated notice must be displayed in a conspicuous place at each facility located in Chicago. If the employer does not maintain a physical business facility, electronic notice via email or intranet satisfies this requirement.
Additional Updated Labor Notices
BACP also updated the notices related to the prohibition on human trafficking, directing employees to additional resources, and informing them of the location for filing a complaint.
As with the other notices, for employers that maintain a business facility within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago, the updated notice must be displayed in a conspicuous place at each facility located in Chicago. If the employer does not maintain a physical business facility, electronic dissemination of the notice through the employer's internal communication channels satisfies this requirement.
Footnote
1. At present, the Minimum Wage and Wage Theft first paycheck notice requirements are slightly different than the Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave requirements. The BACP has advised that they intend to standardize these requirements.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.