Illinois Overtime Calculator: the complete guide
Illinois's overtime rule under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law (IMWL, 820 ILCS 105/4a) follows the standard federal formula: 1.5x an employee's regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, with no state daily-overtime trigger. What Illinois adds on top of the federal picture is a significant local-wage layer: Chicago and Cook County both set minimum wages meaningfully above the state's $15.00/hr figure, and getting the local rate right matters for both minimum wage and the regular-rate calculation that overtime is built on.
This page covers the standard weekly overtime calculation plus Illinois's statewide minimum wage, the Chicago/Cook County local rates, and the exemption rules that govern who is entitled to overtime in the first place.
How overtime works in Illinois
A non-exempt Illinois employee is owed 1.5x their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a single workweek, with no daily-overtime rule. A single long shift, by itself, produces no overtime under Illinois law unless the week's total hours exceed 40.
An employee earning $24.00/hr works 46 hours in one workweek. The first 40 hours are straight time: 40 x $24.00 = $960.00. The remaining 6 hours are overtime at 1.5x: 6 x $36.00 = $216.00. Total pay for the week: $960.00 + $216.00 = $1,176.00.
Illinois's minimum wage and the Chicago/Cook County premium
Illinois's statewide minimum wage is $15.00/hr, held flat for 2026 under 820 ILCS 105/4, with a $9.00/hr cash wage and $6.00/hr tip credit for tipped employees. Chicago and Cook County both set their own local minimum wages above the state figure, and because the higher of the applicable rates always controls, an employee working inside Chicago or unincorporated Cook County is entitled to the local rate, not the $15.00/hr statewide figure, for hours worked there.
Since overtime pay is calculated as a multiple of the regular rate, using the wrong (lower, statewide) rate as the baseline for a Chicago-area employee doesn't just underpay their straight-time hours; it also understates every overtime hour that week, because the 1.5x multiplier is being applied to a rate that's too low to begin with.
Exemptions in Illinois
Illinois generally follows the federal FLSA's exemption categories — executive, administrative, and professional employees paid a true salary of at least $684/week who also meet a duties test, plus outside sales and certain computer professionals — without layering on a large set of additional state-specific exemptions. Illinois's sizable logistics, warehousing, and manufacturing sectors around Chicago make correct classification of shift supervisors and leads a common point of dispute, since those roles frequently sit close to the exempt salary threshold.
The regular rate and bonuses
As under federal law, a nondiscretionary bonus must be folded into the regular rate before the 1.5x overtime multiplier applies. This is especially relevant in Illinois's warehousing and logistics sector, where production or attendance bonuses tied to shift quotas are common and easy to leave out of an automated payroll overtime calculation. A payroll system that applies 1.5x to only the base hourly rate, ignoring an earned shift-quota bonus, will understate every overtime hour paid in the affected week, sometimes by a meaningful amount if the bonus is large relative to the base wage.
Working two roles at different pay rates for the same employer
Illinois warehousing and distribution employers often move the same worker between two different roles in a single workweek, each with its own hourly rate — a picker role and a forklift-certified role, for instance. Federal law, which governs this calculation in Illinois alongside the IMWL, does not allow 1.5x to be applied to whichever single rate happened to be in effect during the overtime hours. Instead, both rates are blended into one weighted-average regular rate for the week, and overtime is calculated from that blended figure.
An employee works 30 hours at $20.00/hr in one role and 20 hours at $15.00/hr in a second role for the same employer, 50 hours total for the week. Straight-time earnings: (30 x $20.00) + (20 x $15.00) = $600.00 + $300.00 = $900.00. The weighted-average regular rate is $900.00 / 50 = $18.00/hr. Since straight-time pay already covers the base rate for every hour, only an extra 0.5x the regular rate is owed for the 10 overtime hours: 10 x ($18.00 x 0.5) = $90.00. Total pay for the week: $900.00 + $90.00 = $990.00.
Recordkeeping and your rights
Keep your pay stubs, any written schedule, and your own log of daily hours worked in each role and location, since a multi-role regular-rate dispute, or a Chicago/statewide minimum wage mix-up, is resolved almost entirely on that documentation. The Illinois Department of Labor investigates IMWL wage claims separately from the federal Wage and Hour Division, and Illinois generally allows up to three years to bring a wage claim, so a delayed claim is not automatically out of time. If your work location changed partway through a pay period — say, from a Cook County site to a downstate site — note the dates of that change too, since it can shift which local minimum wage applies for part of the period and affect the regular-rate calculation for that stretch specifically.
Common mistakes
Using the statewide $15.00/hr rate for a Chicago or Cook County employee. Paying the $15.00/hr statewide minimum wage to an employee working inside Chicago, where the local minimum wage is higher, understates both their straight-time pay and every overtime hour calculated from that too-low base rate.
Assuming Illinois has a daily-overtime rule. Treating a single 12-hour Illinois shift as automatically triggering overtime, the way California would, is incorrect; Illinois uses the federal weekly-only 40-hour rule.
Misclassifying a warehouse or logistics shift lead as exempt. Labeling a shift lead "exempt" because of a supervisory-sounding title, without confirming they meet both the $684/week salary test and the duties test, denies them overtime they may be legally owed for hours over 40.
Ignoring a shift-quota bonus in the overtime rate. Applying 1.5x to a bare hourly rate while a promised production bonus goes unaccounted for understates every overtime hour paid in the affected week.
Illinois overtime quick reference
| Item | Illinois figure |
|---|---|
| Overtime trigger | Hours over 40/week (IMWL, tracks federal formula) |
| Daily overtime | None |
| Statewide minimum wage | $15.00/hr |
| Chicago / Cook County | Higher local minimum wage applies instead |
| Filing agency | Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) |
How to file a claim
If your Illinois paycheck doesn't reflect the correct local minimum wage or overtime calculation, raise it first with your employer or payroll department, since using the statewide rate instead of the higher Chicago or Cook County figure is a common and correctable error. If that doesn't resolve it, you can file a wage claim with the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL), which investigates unpaid overtime and minimum wage claims at no cost. Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL).
Frequently asked questions
- Does Illinois have its own overtime rate different from the federal rate?
- No. Illinois's overtime rate under the IMWL is the same 1.5x-over-40-hours formula as the federal FLSA, with no separate state daily-overtime rule. What differs in Illinois is the minimum wage, since Chicago and Cook County both set local rates above the state figure.
- What is Illinois's minimum wage?
- Illinois's statewide minimum wage is $15.00/hr, held flat for 2026, with a $9.00/hr tipped cash wage and $6.00/hr tip credit. Chicago and Cook County both require a higher local minimum wage for work performed within their boundaries.
- How do I know if the Chicago minimum wage applies to me?
- It depends on where the work is physically performed: employees working inside the city of Chicago or unincorporated Cook County are entitled to that jurisdiction's higher local minimum wage instead of the $15.00/hr statewide figure. Where the employer's headquarters or payroll office is located does not matter.
- Is there daily overtime in Illinois?
- No. Illinois follows the federal weekly-only rule: a single long shift produces no overtime by itself unless the week's total hours exceed 40. Only the 40-hour weekly threshold triggers overtime under the IMWL.
- Does the Chicago minimum wage affect my overtime rate too?
- Yes, indirectly. Since overtime pay is 1.5x the regular rate, and the regular rate must be at least the applicable minimum wage, using the lower statewide rate as the base for a Chicago-area employee understates both their straight-time pay and every overtime hour calculated from it.
- How does a bonus affect Illinois overtime pay?
- A nondiscretionary bonus, such as a production bonus tied to a shift quota, must be folded into the regular rate before the 1.5x overtime multiplier is applied, the same requirement as under federal law generally. Skipping this step understates every overtime hour paid in a week where such a bonus was earned.
- Who is exempt from overtime in Illinois?
- Illinois generally follows the federal FLSA's exemption categories, most commonly executive, administrative, and professional employees paid a true salary of at least $684/week who also meet a duties test. Illinois has not added a significant set of its own additional overtime exemptions beyond the federal list.
- Where do I file an unpaid overtime claim in Illinois?
- You can file a wage claim with the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL), which investigates unpaid overtime and minimum wage claims, including Chicago and Cook County local-wage disputes, at no cost. Keep your pay stubs and your own hours log, especially if your work location is inside Chicago or Cook County.