While we may not want fries with that, we do know the person asking the question at local fast food restaurants will be earning more money in 2025.
The minimum wage in Illinois will increase from $14 to $15 per hour on Jan. 1.
Also, employees who receive tips are seeing their minimum wage increase from $8.40 to $9 an hour.
Disabled Americans living in Illinois will be allowed to earn a minimum wage, thanks to the Dignity in Pay Act, which eliminated Illinois’ 14(c) certificate program, which allowed employers to pay people with disabilities a subminimum wage.
Those are some of the nearly 300 new laws that will go into effect on New Year’s Day in Illinois.
Here are some highlights:
Speaking of wages, any employer with 15 or more workers will have to disclose pay scale and information about benefits when they post job openings.
New Year’s Day is typically when many of us begin diets and that may include sweating off pounds at the local gym.
In 2025, if you tire of all that sweat equity, a new state law will make it easier to cancel a gym membership. A new law will allow you to cancel membership to a gym through email or the gym’s website.
Keeping health in mind, another new law restricts a manufacturer, distributor or retailer from advertising, marketing or promoting electronic cigarettes, more commonly called vaping.
And unless you are 21 years old, you can’t order electronic vaping materials through the mail.
Motorists are affected by several laws.
The Secretary of State’s office is being allowed to issue digital driver’s licenses or state IDs. The digital versions would be issued in addition to physical IDs.
While companies will be allowed to determine if they want to accept the digital IDs, you will still have to hand your license or ID to a police officer if requested.
Qualified applicants will be issued a driver’s license that’s good for eight years rather than the current four. The Secretary of State’s office has two years until it must submit rules for the program to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules no later than January 1, 2027.
If your vehicle is stolen and towed, you will not incur storage fees if recovered within seven days, and owners can retrieve essential items, like medical devices and textbooks.
Suppose your car’s license plates are stolen. You can request free replacement plates from the state.
In an attempt to crack down on the thefts of catalytic converters, recyclable metals dealers must keep track of vehicle identification numbers (VIN) of the vehicles from which the catalytic converter was removed and make a copy of the certificate of title or registration showing the seller’s ownership of the vehicle.
The law also makes it illegal to sell or buy a catalytic converter unless those conditions are met.
Data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau showed that Illinois was among the top five states in the country for catalytic converter thefts between 2020-2022.
This may seem obvious, drivers approaching an emergency scene or a stopped emergency vehicle, or a construction zone, must change lanes to yield the right of way if possible. If not, the driver must reduce speed.
Finally addressing a long-standing safety issue, drivers will be prohibited from stopping or parking vehicles on shoulders of highways within a half-mile radius of the eastern entrance to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.
Anyone who’s driven someone to O’Hare knows it’s a disaster waiting to happen when they see dozens of vehicles parked on the shoulder, their hazard lights flashing.
Another safety issue on roadways will require trash transportation vehicles to be covered to prevent windblown garbage from blowing around and possibly causing problems for motorists.
Some other new laws address health, work, tenants and the environment.
Those with hearing issues will be pleased to know insurers must now cover medically prescribed hearing aids and services for individuals of all ages, ensuring access to essential care.
Life-saving epinephrine injectors are now capped at $60 per twin-pack, making allergy care more affordable.
Employees are protected from retaliation for exposing workplace practices they believe violate the law.
If a business offers free trials longer than 15 days, it must email consumers three days before the cancellation deadline.
Police officers will now be trained to better recognize and respond to individuals with autism. The Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board will develop and approve a course to help officers recognize spectrum disorders, with training required every three years.
Businesses offering veteran or military benefit services for a fee must disclose all terms upfront.
Tenants will be permitted to pay landlords in cash or paper checks to avoid transaction fees associated with direct deposit or credit or debit cards.
Landlords will also be required to disclose if a property is in an area at a high risk of flooding.
With a nod to our environment, hotels with 50 rooms or more are banned from providing guests with single-use plastic bottles.
In 2026, hotels with less than 50 rooms will also be banned from offering single-use bottles to guests.
So, it’s probably a good idea to bring your own water bottle you can re-fill when you travel around the Land of Lincoln.
For a full list of Illinois laws that are going into effect in 2025, residents can visit the General Assembly’s website.
Contributing to this story were www.abc7chicago.com, www.illinoissenatedemocrats.com, www.mystateline.com, www.sj-r.com, www.iml.org and www.nbcchicago.com.
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