Chicago Paid Leave Law
Employers physically located within the City of Chicago should be prepared to implement the new system as of July 1. Chicago Paid Vacation, Paid Sick Leave, and Safe Leave Actwhich states that covered employees can earn up to 40 hours of paid sick leave and 40 hours of other paid leave usable for any reason per 12-month benefit period.
Employee Eligibility and Compensation
Covered Employees
Covered employees are those who work at least 80 hours in a 120-day period. Immigration status does not matter. The eligibility year can be defined the same way for all employees or individually in its entirety, and can be tied to the calendar year, fiscal year, tax year, contract year, or anniversary date of employment.
Compensation
Paid employees must be compensated in full or in part at the base hourly rate, whichever is higher than the federal minimum wage or the Illinois or Chicago minimum wage. Those who receive tips must receive paid leave at the highest city, state, or federal minimum wage.
Leave Notification and Certification
Notice Requirements
Employers may require employees to provide up to 7 days’ advance notice, using methods such as written or verbal notification to their immediate supervisor, calling a designated telephone number to leave a message, sending an email to a designated address, or submitting a request in the employer’s scheduling system.
Certification
If paid sick leave lasts more than three consecutive workdays, an employer may require a certification of it—but cannot prevent an employee from using sick time, nor delay payment of wages, if such a certification is not provided.
Leave Requests and Denials
Denial of Leave
Employers may deny leave requests if they can demonstrate that the employee’s leave would significantly impact business operations, if the employer’s service has a significant impact on the health and safety of City residents, if they have treated employees in similar positions in the same manner as in previous decisions, and if the employee has the “reasonable ability” to use all of his or her accumulated leave within the specified 12-month period. Such denials must be in writing and state the rationale for the policy.
Accrual and Carryover of Leave
Immediate Leave
Employers are permitted to grant paid vacation or paid sick leave (or both) immediately from the date of hire if they choose. If they do not, they must allow employees to carry over up to 16 hours of accrued but unused paid leave to the next calendar year. In either case, employers must allow employees to carry over up to 80 hours of accrued but unused paid sick leave.
Usage of Accrued Leave
If employers do not charge paid leave in advance, they must allow employees to use paid leave within 90 days of the date of employment. Any type of leave must be compensated by the next regular pay period after the leave is used.
Employer Responsibilities and Record-Keeping
Notice Posting
Employers are required to post a notice announcing the final rules of the ordinance in the usual channels such as break rooms, lunchrooms, bulletin boards, and internal communication channels. This requirement is waived for employers without a physical business location in the city or for families employing domestic workers.
Employee Notification
Employers must provide this notice with the employee’s first paycheck after July 1, either on a check voucher, online, or through a handwritten log of time available. They must maintain records of covered employees for at least five years that include the date of hire, the date of eligibility to use leave, the number of hours accrued or granted to the employee, and the dates and number of hours each employee used either or both types of leave.
Employee Complaints and Resolutions
Filing Complaints
Employees who believe their employer has violated any of these requirements must file a complaint with the Chicago Department of Business and Consumer Protection within three years of the alleged violation, unless there is evidence that the employer concealed the violation or misled the employee about his or her rights, in which case the three-year period begins when that circumstance is discovered.
Resolving Complaints
Management may choose to use conference, voluntary mediation, conciliation, or persuasion to resolve the complaint, considering factors such as whether the employer appears to have made good faith efforts to address the violations, and/or whether the complaint is more technical and will not cause material harm to the employee, in determining whether to fine the accused company, and how much.
Compliance Recommendations
To avoid potential penalties and ensure compliance, employers should:
- Read the full decree and consult with a business attorney.
- Review and update employee policy manuals to reflect the new law.
- Implement a system for tracking and managing paid leave accrual and usage.
For more detailed information, visit the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
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