Sick Time, Time Off, And Leaves

Employee leaves of absence, time off, and allowed sick time are highly regulated, which is why every employer should be aware of the following laws and requirements. Incorporating these steps and requirements into your employment policies can prevent a ton of headache and strife. Find out how we can help here!

Concrete Action Steps

1) Required Leaves and Time Off

This is an area of the law that is constantly updated. Some current required leaves include:

• Sick Leave: employers in Chicago and most cities/towns in Cook County need to give full-time employees 5 paid sick days/year.
• The Family and Medical Leave Act (only applies to employers with 50+ employees) requires employers to give employees at least 12 unpaid weeks off to handle family/medical matters. This is only for employees that have worked for the company for at least a year and they need to give 30 days’ notice.
• Voting Leave for 2 hours on voting day if the employee doesn’t have a 2-hour window to get to the polls before/after work (can’t dock pay)
• Jury Duty (can be unpaid)
• School Visitation (only applies to employers with 50+ employees) gives 8 hours total, but no more than 4 hours in one day, for parents/guardians who can’t get to school events due to their work schedule
• Domestic Violence Matters (for employers with 15+ employees) for the victim (or a family member of the victim) of domestic violence
• Family Military Leave (for employers with 15+ employees) provides 15-30 days, depending on employer size, of unpaid family military leave to an employee during the time federal or state deployment orders are in effect
• Employee Blood Donation (for employers with 50+ employees) gives employees 1 hour every 56 days to donate blood
• Nursing Breaks (for employers with 5+ employees) gives nursing moms paid break time each day for 1 year after the birth of the child

2) Vacation Time: Not Required, but Must be Paid Out

Vacation and holiday days are not required, but note that vacation days must be paid out upon termination if they are provided.

Paid Leave

Illinois, Cook County, and Chicago all currently have paid leave laws. Illinois law applies if you are in Illinois, unless you are in a county or city with more favorable laws (such as Cook County and Chicago). Cook County’s applies if you are in Cook County, unless you are in a city with more favorable laws (like Chicago). Each law has its own specific requirements, so while we have provided a summary below, we recommend you work with an attorney to put together a compliant leave policy. Cook County has also put together a handy chart laying out the differences between the leave acts.

Illinois

According to Illinois’ Paid Leave for All Workers Act, employers must provide employees with one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked. The leave may be taken for any reason and carries over from year to year. However, employers can implement the following requirements:

• Employees must provide 7 days’ notice of the leave if the leave is foreseeable (if not foreseeable, the employer can require as much notice as possible, but doing so triggers a requirement to provide a written leave policy that meets the requirements of the law);
• Employers can cap the leave at 40 hours per year;
• Employers can require employees to use leave in increments of at least 2 hours; and
• Employers can restrict new hires from using the leave until they have been employed with the employer for 90 days.

Cook County

According to Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance, employers must provide employees with one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked. The leave may be taken for any reason and carries over from year to year. However, employers can implement the following requirements:

• Employees must provide 7 days’ notice of the leave if the leave is foreseeable (if not foreseeable, the employer can require as much notice as possible, but doing so triggers a requirement to provide a written leave policy that meets the requirements of the ordinance);
• Employers can cap the leave at 40 hours per year;
• Employers can require employees to use leave in increments of at least 2 hours; and
• Employers can restrict new hires from using the leave until they have been employed with the employer for 90 days.

City of Chicago

According to Chicago’s Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave, employers must provide employees with one hour of paid leave for every 35 hours worked. The leave may be taken for any reason and carries over from year to year (although employers can cap carryover at 16 hours). However, employers can implement the following requirements:

• Employees must provide 7 days’ notice or “reasonable notice” of the leave and can be required to obtain “reasonable pre-approval” to maintain continuity of employer operations;
• Employers can cap the leave at 40 hours per year; and
• Employers can restrict new hires from using the leave until they have been employed with the employer for 90 days.

The layered leave laws in Illinois make compliance a complex affair. If you need assistance parsing which laws apply to you and how to obey them, get in touch to see how we can help.

Sick Leave

Chicago Sick and Safe Leave

According to Chicago’s Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave, employers must provide employees with one hour of paid leave for every 35 hours worked. The leave may be taken for reasons involving health or safety such as illness, injury, family illness/family care, victim of domestic violence, safety for a victim of sex offense or trafficking, and business closure for a public health emergency. The leave carries over from year to year (although employers can cap carryover at 80 hours). However, employers can implement the following requirements:

• Employers can cap the leave at 40 hours per year; and
• Employers can restrict new hires from using the leave until they have been employed with the employer for 30 days.

Required Leaves of Absence

Federal law mandates that employers respect many types of employee leave. We’ve highlighted the most common ones below.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

This act applies to employers with 50+ employees.

• Requires employers to provide eligible employees with 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons (or 26 weeks in a 12-month period for military leave)
• Only employers who have had at least 50 employees for at least 20 weeks in the current or previous year must adhere to FMLA.
• Not every employee is covered: an employee must have worked for at least a year and at least 1,250 hours during the prior year.
• An employee can take FMLA leave for:
  • Their own serious health condition,
  • To care for a family member with a serious health condition, or
  • For parental leave.
  • Employees can also take FMLA leave to deal with certain matters arising from a family member’s call to active military duty.
• Employees must give 30 days’ notice of intent to take FMLA leave. Employers may request medical certification.
• Not all FMLA leave needs to be taken at once.
• Employees must be reinstated at the same or equivalent position when they return from leave.
• The Department of Labor provides a thorough FMLA guide for employers.

Voting

Employers must provide an employee up to 2 hours off for voting in an election if the employee’s working hours begin less than 2 hours after the opening of the polls and end less than two hours before the closing of the polls and if the employee requests time off prior to the election.

• The employer may specify the hours the employee is to be absent.
• The employer may not reduce the compensation of an employee who takes the 2 hours off from work to vote.

Jury Duty

Statutes: Jury Act and Jury Commission Act and the Jury Systems Improvement Act

• Employers must provide time off to an employee (even a night-shirt worker) who is summoned for jury duty if the employee provides reasonable notification to the employer of the requirement to serve, and employers can’t discipline or fire the employee for attending jury duty.
• The employer is not required to compensate the employee for the time off.
• Penalties for a violation: Employers violating this law may be charged with contempt of court, will be liable for damages for any loss of wages or other benefits suffered by an employee, and may be ordered to refrain from further violations and to reinstate any discharged employee.

Parents: School Visitation Rights Act

This act applies to employers with 50+ employees.

It grants employed parents/guardians the right to take time off to attend necessary classroom activities and/or educational or behavioral conferences at the school (private or public, primary or secondary) their children attend. These parents/guardians must:

• have been employed for at least 6 consecutive months,
• work at least one-half of the normal full-time schedule, and
• are unable to meet with educators because of work conflicts.

The employee is eligible to take up to 8 hours of unpaid leave during the school year but no more than 4 hours on any given day.

The employer must allow the employee a reasonable opportunity to make up the time.

• The employee must provide notice at least 7 days in advance and make the request for the time in writing except in case of emergency, when no more than 4 hours’ notice is required.
• No leave may be taken by an employee unless the employee has exhausted all accrued vacation leave, personal leave, compensatory leave, and any other leave that may be granted to the employee except sick leave and disability leave.

Domestic Violence Victims

This law, the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act, applies to: employers with 15+ employees; the state or any state agency; local government; school district.

• Allows employees who are victims of domestic violence or a family or household member of such a victim to take an unpaid leave from work to address matters involving domestic violence.
• Employers with between 15 and 49 employees must provide 8 weeks of leave during every rolling 12-month period, and employers with 50 or more employees must provide 12 weeks of leave during every rolling 12-month period.
• Employees must provide their supervisor with advance notice of up to 48 hours of their intention to take leave if they have advance notice of the need for time off. If such advance notice is not possible, the employee must notify their employer as soon as possible.

Family Military Leave Act

This act applies to employers with 15+ employees.

• Provides that any employer employing between 15 and 50 employees must provide up to 15 days of unpaid family military leave to an employee during the time federal or state deployment orders are in effect.
• An employer with more than 50 employees shall provide up to 30 days of unpaid family military leave to an employee during the time federal or state deployment orders are in effect.
• The employee shall give at least 14 days’ notice of the intended date on which the family military leave will commence if leave will consist of 5 or more consecutive workdays.
• An employee shall not take leave as provided under the Family Military Leave Act unless he or she has exhausted all accrued vacation leave, personal leave, compensatory leave, and any other leave that may be granted to the employee, except sick leave and disability leave.

Employee Blood Donation Leave Act

This act applies to employers with 50+ employees and/or local government.

• An employer who has 51 or more employees or any unit of local government or board of election commissioners must allow blood donation leave with pay.
• Full-time employees with at least 6 months of service are allowed to take up to one hour of paid leave, or more if authorized by the employer or a collective-bargaining agreement, every 56 days, to donate blood.

Bereavement Leave – Illinois

Employees have the right to take ten days of unpaid leave to attend the funeral for, make arrangements for, or grieve the death of a family member such as a “child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent.” Employees are also entitled to ten days of unpaid leave due to fertility-related issues such as a miscarriage, unsuccessful round of assisted reproduction, failed adoption, or stillbirth.

Under the law, employers may request documentation to prove that an employee’s request for leave is for an event covered by the act. However, employees need not disclose the event that qualifies them for the leave. The documentation can include death certificates, published obituaries, and documentation from an adoption or surrogacy organization.

Breaks for Nursing Moms

This law, the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act, applies to employers with 5+ employees.

• Employers must provide reasonable paid break time each day to an employee each time the employee has the need to express breast milk for one year after the child’s birth.
• The break time may run concurrent with the employee’s standard breaks.
• An employer shall provide reasonable break time as needed by the employee unless to do so would create an undue hardship.
• An employer shall make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location, other than a toilet stall, where the employee can express her milk in privacy.

As you can see, understanding and complying with the plethora of leave laws across our state and nation is really complicated. If you’d like help incorporating these requirements into your documents and policies, we’d love to help! We offer a full suite of employment solutions customized to your business. And if you have needs not covered there, get in touch and tell us about it. We’d love to hear from you.

Related:

• Employment Solutions
• Paid Leave Laws for Illinois
• Employee Agreements
• Employee Handbook