Cook County has not adopted a grocery worker premium wage ordinance like Los Angeles GWRO. Illinois state law sets a $15 statewide minimum wage as of January 2025. Cook County Minimum Wage Ordinance 16-O-34 sets a higher floor for opt-in municipalities only.
Los Angeles created a Grocery Worker Retention Ordinance and pandemic-era hazard pay, requiring 90-day retention and at-times bonus wages at large grocers. Cook County has no equivalent ordinance for grocery, retail, or hospitality workers. Illinois Minimum Wage Law 820 ILCS 105 raised the statewide floor to $15 per hour effective January 2025. Cook County Ord. 16-O-34 sets a $15.40 minimum (2025) for non-opt-out suburbs; Chicago has its own higher rate. Industry-specific premiums for grocery workers do not exist at county or state level. Worker organizing campaigns in 2024 advocated for grocery hazard pay but no ordinance has advanced.
Because no grocery-specific wage law exists, there are no grocery-specific penalties. Standard Cook County minimum-wage violations bring back-wages plus damages and fines $500 to $1,000 per affected employee per violation under 16-O-34.
See how Arlington Heights's grocery worker wage rules stack up against other locations.
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