Illinois Employment Law

Annual leave is based on an agreement between employee and employer.

Under the Minimum Wage Law and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, an employer is obligated to pay an employee for all time worked. For both salaried and hourly employees, if a portion of the week is not completed, the entire salary amount is not due. However, the employee may enter into an agreement with their employer to use some kind of benefit time for those days not worked.

The state minimum wage is $13.00 per hour effective January 1, 2023.

The above information on minimum wages might not be up to date & subject to change. Kindly access the DOL website for the current rates.

An employee may use personal sick leave benefits provided by the employer for absences due to an illness, injury, or medical appointment of the employee’s child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent, on the same terms upon which the employee is able to use personal sick leave benefits for the employee’s own illness or injury. An employer may request written verification of the employee’s absence from a healthcare professional if such verification is required under the employer’s employment benefit plan or paid time off policy.   An employer may limit the use of personal sick leave benefits provided by the employer for absences due to an illness, injury, or medical appointment of the employee’s child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent to an amount not less than the personal sick leave that would be earned or accrued during 6 months at the employee’s then-current rate of entitlement. For employers who base personal sick leave benefits on an employee’s years of service instead of annual or monthly accrual, such an employer may limit the amount of sick leave to half of the employee’s maximum annual grant.   An employer who provides personal sick leave benefits or a paid time off policy that would otherwise provide benefits as required above shall not be required to modify such benefits. This Employee Sick Leave Act does not extend the maximum period of leave to which an employee is entitled under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, regardless of whether the employee receives sick leave compensation during that leave.

Employers that are covered under the federal FMLA (those with 50 or more employees) must provide eligible employees with up to two weeks (10 working days) of unpaid bereavement leave due to the loss of a child. Employees will be eligible to take FBLA leave if they are eligible employees under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires at least 12 months of employment and at least 1,250 hours worked within the previous 12-month period. Leave may be used to:

• • • Attend the funeral (or alternative funeral) of a child or family member;
    • Make arrangements necessitated by the death of the child or family member;
    • Grieve the death of the child or covered family member.
    • Be absent from work due to a miscarriage; an unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or of an assisted reproductive technology procedure (e.g., artificial insemination or embryo transfer); a failed adoption match or adoption that is not finalized because it is contested by another party; a failed surrogacy agreement; a diagnosis that negatively impacts pregnancy or fertility; or a stillbirth.

Employers may request appropriate documentation to support the validity of a leave request. The employee may not be asked to specify the event that prompted the leave if it was a pregnancy- or adoption-related event, respectively.

The scope of “covered family members” under FBLA shall include “an employee’s child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent,” who are eligible for unpaid bereavement leave. “Child” is defined to include an employee’s son or daughter who is a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis. If an employee experiences the loss of more than one child during a 12-month period, the employee is entitled to six weeks of leave during the 12-month period.

Unless it is not reasonable or practicable, an employee must provide his or her employer with 48 hours’ notice of the intention to take leave. Employers may require documentation, such as a death certificate or published obituary. Employees must be permitted to (but may not be required to) substitute any available paid leave for the otherwise unpaid bereavement leave. The law does not create a right for an employee to take unpaid leave that exceeds, or is in addition to, unpaid leave provided under the federal FMLA.

Any person who is not legally disqualified to serve on juries, and has been duly summoned for jury duty for either petit or grand jury service, shall be given time off from employment to serve upon the jury for which such employee is summoned, regardless of the employment shift such employee is assigned to at the time of service of such summons. An employee shall give his employer reasonable notice of required jury service. An employer may not deny an employee time off for jury duty because such employee is then assigned to work a night shift of employment, that is, an employer cannot require a night shift worker to work while such employee is doing jury duty in the daytime.

The Illinois Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (“VESSA”) was amended effective January 1, 2017, to provide that all employers, regardless of size, must offer Illinois employees unpaid leave if they or a member of their family or household is the victim of domestic abuse. Previously, only employers with 15 or more employees were covered. Employers with 50 or more employers must offer up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave; employers with 15-49 employees must offer up to eight weeks of unpaid leave, and employers with less than 15 employees must offer up to four weeks of unpaid leave.

Employees are entitled to take leave if they or a covered family or household member are a victim of a crime of violence. This is in addition to the already-covered sexual, gender, or domestic violence.

The definition of a covered family or household member is expanded to include a party to a civil union, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling or any son, daughter, other person related by blood or by a present or previous marriage or civil union, another person who shares a relationship through a child, or any other individual whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship as determined by the employee son or daughter, and persons jointly residing in the same household.

Effective January 1, 2018, no public or private employer may terminate an employee who is a volunteer emergency worker because the employee when acting as a volunteer emergency worker, is absent from or late to his or her employment in order to respond to an emergency prior to the time the employee is to report to his or her place of employment. A public or private employer shall not discipline an employee who is a volunteer emergency worker if the employee, in the scope of acting as a volunteer emergency worker, responds to an emergency phone call or text message during work hours that requests the person’s volunteer emergency services.

An employer may not punish or penalize an employee who is a witness to a crime and takes time off from work to testify at a criminal proceeding pursuant to a subpoena. Leave is unpaid.

Employers with 50 or more employees must provide leave to eligible employees so that they can attend their children’s school conferences or classroom activities when the events cannot be rescheduled during non-work hours. To be eligible, an employee must have:

• • • • • Worked for the employer for at least six consecutive months before making the leave request; and
        • Been employed on at least a half-time basis during that six-month period.

An employer must provide an eligible employee with up to eight hours of school visitation leave per school year, but no more than four hours can be taken on one day. Employers are not required to pay employees for the leave; however, they must make a good faith effort to allow employees to make up the time missed. Before taking school visitation leave, an employee must use all other accrued leave, except sick or disability leave. Employees must provide advance notice of leave. The employee should submit a verification form to employers following the leave. Job protections apply to employees taking leave.

Leave laws to apply to general or special elections and primary elections.

• • • • • • For general or special elections, employers must give up to a two-hour paid leave, for eligible employees. Prior notice from the employee is required.
          • For primary elections, up to a two-hour unpaid leave is permitted, with employer’s consent.

Employers with 15 or more employees must provide unpaid leave to eligible employees who are members of the civil air patrol performing a civil air patrol mission. To be eligible, the employee must have been employed by the same employer for at least 12 months and must have at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12-month period before the leave. The amount of leave depends on the employer’s size, as follows:

• • • • • • • Between 15 and 50 employees—Up to 15 days of leave.
            • More than 50 employees—Up to 30 days of leave.

Employers cannot require employees to use up other types of leave before taking civil air patrol leave. Employees must give advance notice of leave, and employers may require certification to verify eligibility for leave. Job protections apply to employees taking leave.

Employers with 15 or more employees must provide eligible employees with unpaid family military leave. To be eligible, an employee must:

• • • • • • • • Be the spouse, parent, child or grandparent of a person called to military service lasting longer than 30 days; and
              • Have been employed by the same employer for at least 12 months, and
              • Must have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12-month period before the leave.

The maximum amount of leave depends on the employer’s size, as follows:

• • • • • • • • • Between 15 and 50 employees—Up to 15 days of leave.
                • More than 50 employees—Up to 30 days of leave.

Before taking family military leave, employees must use up all other types of accrued leave, except sick or disability leave. Employees must provide advance notice. An employer may require certification to verify eligibility for leave. Job protections apply to employees taking leave.

In addition to USERRA, Illinois has the following laws providing employment protections for military service members:

• • • • • • • • • • Illinois Service Member Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (ISERRA): Effective Jan. 1, 2019, ISERRA replaces prior state laws in order to consolidate and clarify the employment rights and protections for military members. ISERRA provides service members with the right to take a military leave of absence and protects servicemembers from retaliation. Reemployment rights as provided under federal USERRA apply. Employer notice requirements also apply
                  • Nondiscrimination: It is unlawful for employers with 15 or more employees to discriminate against employees based on their military status. Separate nondiscrimination provisions apply to members of the National Guard or Reserves.

 Effective January 1, 2020, LDPA makes it unlawful for an employer to “retaliate against an employee for requesting or obtaining a leave of absence” under the Organ Donor Leave Act. The Organ Donor Leave Act provides employees up to 30 days of protected, unpaid organ donation leave in any 12-month period to serve as bone marrow or organ donor, and up to 1 hour of leave to donate blood, 1-1/2 hours to donate double red cells and 2 hours to donate platelets. Employers cannot require employees to use sick or vacation leave before being eligible for organ donation leave.

Leave requirements apply to employers with 50 or more employees. With employer approval, full-time employees who have been employed for six months or longer are eligible for paid blood donation leave. After obtaining his or her employer’s approval, an employee may use up to one hour (or more time if authorized by the employer) to donate blood every 56 days in accordance with appropriate medical standards. An employer may require an employee to provide confirmation from the blood bank. Eligible employees cannot be required to use accumulated or future sick or vacation time for the period used to donate blood.

Chicago Paid Sick Leave Ordinance Effective July 1, 2017, this ordinance allows workers in Chicago to earn up to 40 hours of paid sick time per year.

Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance

Effective July 1, 2017, this ordinance allows workers in Cook County to earn up to 40 hours of paid sick time per year.

Effective January 1, 2020, VESSA has been amended to add a category of protection for victims of gender violence or employees who have families or household members who are victims of gender violence. As amended, affected employees receive the same job-protected leave as other victims of domestic or sexual violence previously covered by VESSA, the length of which depends on the size of the employer: four weeks per 12-month period for employers with 1-14 employees, eight weeks in a 12-month period for employers with 15-49 employees, and 12 weeks in a 12-month period for employers with 50 or more employees.