Illinois Paid Leave For All Workers Act

The Act applies to all employers in Illinois with certain exceptions, such as school districts under the School Code or park districts under the Park District Code. The Act covers all employees except for:

• Employees as defined in the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act or the Railway Labor Act
• Temporary college or university student-employees
• Certain short-term employees of an institution of higher learning
• Employees working in the construction industry who are covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement (CBA)
• Employees who are covered by a bona fide CBA with an employer that provides services nationally and internationally of delivery, pickup, and transportation of parcels, documents, and freight

The definition of “employee” includes domestic workers.

Employers may provide such leave via Frontloading or Accrual.

• Frontloading Paid Leave at the Start of a 12-Month Period:
  If an employer frontloads leave by providing employees the minimum required number of paid leave hours available on the employee’s first day of employment or the first day of any 12-month period, the employer is subject to the following requirements.
  • Give written notice to the employee informing the employee of how many paid leave hours that employee is receiving on or before the first day of employment or on or before the first day of the 12-month period.
  • Employers who frontload and make Paid Leave available immediately are not required to carry over annually.
  • The number of hours of paid leave provided shall not be less than what the employee would be entitled to earn if the employer had not provided all paid leave hours on the first day of employment or the first day of the 12-month period.
• Accruing Paid Leave Over a 12-Month Period:
  If an employer requires employees to earn paid leave hours via accrual, an employee is entitled to accrue paid leave hours at the rate of 1 hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked during a 12-month period up to a minimum of 40 hours of paid leave over the same 12-month period. An employer is required to count all time that an employee works, including overtime hours worked, for purposes of calculating accrual. An employer is not required to count time when an employee is on paid or unpaid leave or other non-compensable time where the employee is not performing work for the employer as time worked for accrual purposes. Work periods of fewer than 15 minutes must be rounded up to 15 minutes.
  • Employees begin accruing effective January 1st, 2024 (or hire date, if after 1/1/24)
  • Employers may impose a 90-day waiting period.
  • Employers are required to carry over unused balances.

• An overtime-exempt employee who regularly works 40 hours or more in a workweek is entitled to a minimum of 40 hours of paid leave during a 12-month period.
• An overtime-exempt employee who regularly works less than 40 hours in a workweek is entitled to accrue paid leave hours based on the number of hours worked in that workweek.

Every employer must create and maintain the following records for each employee:

• Name and address
• Hours worked each day in each workweek.
• Paid leave earned or accrued in each workweek.
• Paid leave taken or used in each workweek.
• Requests by the employee to use paid leave that the employer denied.
• Remaining paid leave balance in each workweek and upon employee’s separation or termination from employment.

Required records must be retained for three years and made available upon request from the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) or upon request from the employee.

Guidance from the IDOL is expected ahead of the law’s effective date, but covered employers can get ahead of any potential obligations by addressing their paid leave policies to make sure they are or will be compliant by January 1st, 2024.

Further clarification is expected from the Illinois Department of Labor on or about March 31, 2024.

For the latest information, visit the Illinois Department of Labor’s website: https://labor.illinois.gov/laws-rules/paidleave.html