On June 20, we entered into summer. As of June 26, if all goes well, we will enter into Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan (see breaking news below!). These are all dates that many look forward to with great anticipation. July 1^st is also another milestone for Illinois businesses. On the first of July, several legal and regulatory milestones go into effect in the state of Illinois.
Effective July 1, 2020, the minimum wage for Illinois will increase from $9.25 to $10.00 per hour. Employees currently earning more than the new minimum wage per hour can remain at their present rate. This increase will not require an update to the Illinois Department of Labor’s required postings, provided your business is displaying the poster effective January 1, 2020.
In the spring of 2019, state lawmakers approved a bill to double the state’s tax on gasoline to 38 cents per gallon from 19 cents to help fund the capital plan. It also included a provision to automatically raise the tax every July 1 by the rate of inflation prior to March of that year, and not to exceed 1 cent. This year (2020), that means an increase of 0.7 cents (https://www2.illinois.gov/rev/research/taxrates/Pages/motorfuel.aspx) , according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.
As part of the Workplace Transparency Act, passed in 2019, companies are required to provide annual workplace training on how to recognize and prevent sexual harassment or face hefty fines under a new state law that took effect January 1. The law initially required companies with more than 15 workers to provide annual training aimed at preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. Starting July 1, businesses with at least one worker will have to comply. We will have more information on options for sexual harassment training in next week’s newsletter.
A final date that you need to know about is August 27th. That is the date of the Greater Freeport Partnership Golf Outing at Park Hills Golf Course. More information about the golf outing and how to sign up is later in this newsletter. As always, if you have any concerns or questions about any of these changes, please contact the Greater Freeport Partnership. Thank you!
