In 2025, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed three new bills into law to amend the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act (the Act): HB 1189, SB 1344, and HB 2488. These amendments, which became effective June 2025, expanded protections for workers who are subject to the prevailing wage requirements of the Act and imposed additional penalties on contractors and subcontractors for violations of the Act. Now approaching almost one year with these amendments on the books, it is a good time for covered employers to assess their compliance.
Illinois’s Prevailing Wage Act
The Act requires contractors and subcontractors in Illinois to pay laborers, mechanics, and other workers on public works projects at least the general prevailing wage for similar work in the locality where the work is being performed. The requirement to pay prevailing wages extends to public works projects, which the Act defines as a fixed work constructed or demolished by any public body or paid wholly or partially out of
