On April 27, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed HB 158, which amends the Employee Sick Leave Act (ESLA) to cover leave for a family member's "personal care." The ESLA—Illinois' statewide "kin-care" law—has been in effect since Jan. 1, 2017, and generally requires employers to permit employees to use their personal sick-leave benefits to care for the employee's family member.
Note that “personal sick-leave benefits” include any paid or unpaid time available to an employee as provided through an employment benefit plan or paid-time-off policy to be used as a result of absence from work due to personal illness, injury or medical appointment. An employment benefit plan or paid-time-off policy does not include long-term disability, short-term disability, an insurance policy, or other comparable benefit plan or policy.
Employers may limit the amount of annual kin-care leave to the amount of personal sick-leave that would be earned or accrued during six months at the employee's then-current rate of entitlement. In other words, for employees accruing 40 hours of personal sick leave benefits per year, the ESLA entitles employees to use 20 of those 40 hours for care of a family member.
Previously, employees could use their personal sick-leave benefits for absences due to their family member's illness, injury or medical appointment. Now, with the amendments under HB 158, employees can also use their personal sick-leave benefits for their family member's "personal care." Personal care includes activities to ensure that the family member's basic medical, hygiene, nutritional, or safety needs are met, or to provide transportation to medical appointments, for a family member who is unable to meet their own needs. Personal care also means being physically present to provide emotional support to a family member with a serious health condition who is receiving inpatient or home care.
Employers with operations in Chicago or Cook County should already be familiar with the local paid-sick-leave requirements that entitle employees to earn and use up to 40 hours of paid-sick-leave per year for a family member's illness or injury, medical care, treatment, or diagnosis, or preventive medical care. Under the ordinances, employees may use an additional 20 hours of paid sick leave per year if they take a Family and Medical Leave Act qualifying leave of absence, such as a leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition. With HB 158's expansion to cover a family member's "personal care," Chicago and Cook County employers need to ensure that they are interpreting their policy provisions consistent with both the ESLA and the applicable paid-sick-leave ordinance(s).
Illinois employers outside Chicago and Cook County should likewise review their personal sick leave policies to determine whether additional changes are required for compliance with the ESLA, as now amended.
Stephanie Mills-Gallan is an attorney with Littler Mendelson in Milwaukee. Paul Newendyke is an attorney with Littler Mendelson in Chicago © 2021 Littler Mendelson. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.