Paid Leave Act Information

• Public Act 102-1143; effective January 1, 2024.
• Applies to all Illinois private & public employers except school districts & park districts.
• Applies to all types of employees – full time, part time, seasonal and temporary.
• All employees are entitled to earn and use a minimum of 40 hours of paid leave during a 12-month period (or pro rata).
  • Example: Employee A works 15 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. They will accrue 19.5 hours of paid leave annually. (15 x 52 = 780 hours worked per year. 780 / 40 = 19.5 hours of paid leave)
• Paid leave accrues at a rate of 1 hour per 40 hours worked or can be frontloaded at the beginning of the year or any 12-month period.
• Exempt employees are deemed to work 40 hours in each workweek unless their regular workweek is less than 40 hours, then leave accrues based on their regular workweek.

• According to the FAQ: Employers may front load PLAWA benefits for part-time employees at a pro rata amount consistent with the employee’s work schedule. However, if the employee in fact works more hours than the employer anticipates, the employee is entitled to accrue more hours at a rate of 1 hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours for the 12-month period. If a part-time employee works fewer hours than anticipated by their employer, the employer may not diminish or recoup used or unused front-loaded paid leave benefits.

• Leave will begin to accrue on the first day of employment or on January 1, 2024
• Employees are not eligible to use any accrued leave until 90 days after the first day of employment or after January 1, 2024.
  • According to the FAQ – “If your company has an existing policy that meets or provides the minimum amount of leave required by the Act (40 hours) in a 12-month period and your employees can in fact take that amount of leave for any reason of their choosing, you do not need to modify the terms of your policy.”    
  • An employer who has a qualifying pre-existing paid leave policy in effect on January 1, is not required to modify the pre-existing paid leave policy. If, after January 1, the employer modifies a pre-existing paid leave policy in such a way that it no longer provides 40 hours of paid leave to be used for any reason in accordance with Section 15(a) of the Act, that policy no longer qualifies for this subsection (b).
  • Qualifying pre-existing leave policy means a bona fide paid leave policy that an employer has enacted prior to January 1, 2024, that, in practice, allows all employees to take at least 40 hours of paid leave for any reason of the employee’s choosing.
  • According to littler.com, “an employer with a PTO policy that offers its employees at least 40 hours of PTO that can be used for any reason per year does not need to change its policy, even if the PTO policy provisions do not align with the Act on issues such as increment of use, advance notice/pre-approval provisions, and carryover.”

• Employers must allow carry over from year to year.
  • Unless the employer frontloads the minimum amount of paid leave at the beginning of employment or at the beginning of any 12-month-period
• Employers can establish reasonable written policies to deny a request to take leave under this Act, for reasons such as minimum staffing requirements.
  • Nothing in the Act prohibits an employer from adopting a policy that establishes some parameters for taking leave, and limited reasons the employer may deny leave for operational necessity. Any such policy must be communicated to employees, applied equally to all employees, and conform with other applicable state and federal laws.  

*Special thanks to Bryan Wellner of Mahoney, Silverman & Cross for presenting this information to the Chamber at our October luncheon. This is a summary of the act and presentation. For the full act and more information, including webinars from the state, visit https://labor.illinois.gov/laws-rules/paidleave.html. For questions reach out to the Chamber at [email protected].