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PayStub

Pay stub requirements in Illinois

Illinois rewrote its pay stub rules effective January 1, 2025. The Wage Payment and Collection Act now defines what a pay stub is, makes employers keep every one for three years whether it was paper or electronic, and gives current and former employees the right to demand copies twice a year and receive them within 21 days. There is even a duty at the exit door: if electronic stubs stop being reachable after separation, the employer has to offer a departing employee a record of the past year. The statewide minimum wage is $15.00; Chicago sits at $17.05.

Pay stub required
Yes, and "pay stub" is a defined term
Electronic delivery
Yes, with duties that outlive the job
Minimum wage (2026)
$15.00/hour statewide
Pay frequency
At least semi-monthly

What Illinois law requires

  • What counts as a pay stub

    The Act defines it as an itemized statement reflecting hours worked, rate of pay, overtime pay and overtime hours worked, gross wages earned, deductions made from the employee’s wages, and the total of wages and deductions year to date.

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  • One for every pay period

    Employers keep records of the names and addresses of all employees and of wages paid each payday, and must furnish each employee with a pay stub for each pay period.

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  • Three-year retention, paper or electronic

    A copy of each employee’s pay stub is kept for at least three years after the date of payment, regardless of whether the employment ends inside that window and regardless of whether the stub was furnished electronically or on paper.

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  • Copies on request within 21 days

    A current employee may request copies and the employer has 21 calendar days to produce them; the employer may require the request in writing and need not grant it more than twice in 12 months. A former employee has the same right for up to one year after separation, and chooses whether to receive the copies physically or electronically.

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  • An offer at the exit door

    An employer whose electronic stubs a former employee cannot reach for at least a full year after separation must, by the end of the final pay period, offer the departing employee a record of every stub from the preceding year — and must write down the date the offer was made and how the employee responded.

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  • Semi-monthly pay, with two exceptions

    Every employer pays all wages earned during a semi-monthly pay period at least semi-monthly. Executive, administrative and professional employees as defined by the FLSA may be paid once a month, and commissions may be paid once a month.

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  • Payday notice posted at every place of business

    Employers post a notice at each regular place of business, accessible to all employees, showing the regular paydays and the place and time of payment, on forms supplied by the Department of Labor.

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  • Minimum wage $15.00, with youth and tipped rates

    The Illinois Department of Labor lists $15.00 an hour for workers 18 and older, $13.00 for workers under 18 who work fewer than 650 hours in a calendar year, and $9.00 as the tipped rate.

    Source

Local rates above the Illinois minimum

  • Chicago

    $17.05 per hour from July 1, 2026 for employers with four or more employees, and $12.96 for tipped workers, with the employer making up the difference if tips fall short. Domestic workers and youth workers must receive the full $17.05.

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What this generator calculates for Illinois

State withholding for Illinois is calculated from the 2026 figures the state publishes, and our test suite holds those figures against the state's own published calculation rather than against arithmetic of ours.

See the Illinois withholding tables and work out take-home pay

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Wage and hour law changes. Check the linked source before relying on any figure here, and treat this page as a starting point rather than legal advice.

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