Chicago to Provide Paid Sick Leave

On June 22, 2016, Chicago City Council voted to amend the Chicago Minimum Wage Ordinance to provide paid sick leave to more than 400,000 Chicago workers.

“Chicago to Provide Paid Sick Leave” blog post photo.

Starting on July 1, 2017, Chicago workers will accrue one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked, capped at five paid sick days per year. Employees will be able to carry over up to 2.5 unused sick days to the following year.

Employees will be able to use paid sick time for the following reasons:

the employee or the employee’s family member is injured or is receiving medical care, treatment, diagnosis, or preventative care;
the employee or the employee’s family member is the victim of domestic violence or sex offense; or
the employee’s place of business is closed due to a public health emergency or the employee needs to care for a child whose school or place of care has been closed due to a public health emergency.

An employer may require employees to provide notice when using paid sick leave in certain situations. If the leave is reasonably foreseeable, then an employer may require employees to provide up to seven days’ notice. If the leave is not reasonably foreseeable, then an employer may require employees to provide notice as soon as is practical. Employees can provide notice by phone, email, or text message.

If an employee takes three or more consecutive paid sick days, then the employer may request the employee to provide a certification showing that the leave was taken for a permitted reason under the Minimum Wage Ordinance. However, an employer cannot request a certification regarding the nature of the condition that caused the employee to take paid sick leave.

The effort to provide paid sick leave was spearheaded by Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s Working Families Task Force, which included union and employer representatives.

Other states and cities with paid sick leave include Connecticut, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, D.C., Vermont, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Seattle.