(a) General provisions.
(1) Any Covered Employee who works at least 80 hours for an Employer within any 120-day period shall be eligible for Paid Sick Leave as provided under this section.
(2) Where a Covered Employee is engaged in an Occupation in which Gratuities have customarily and usually constituted part of the remuneration, the Covered Employee's Employer shall pay at least the full Chicago minimum wage, as provided in Section 6-105-020, for Paid Sick Leave.
(3) Unless an applicable collective bargaining agreement provides otherwise, upon a Covered Employee's termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation from employment, the Covered Employee's Employer is not required to provide financial or other reimbursement for unused Paid Sick Leave.
(b) Accrual of paid sick leave.
(1) Paid Sick Leave shall begin to accrue either on the 1st calendar day after the commencement of a Covered Employee's employment or July 1, 2017, whichever is later.
(2) For every 40 hours worked after a Covered Employee's Paid Sick Leave begins to accrue, the Covered Employee shall accrue one hour of Paid Sick Leave. Paid Sick Leave shall accrue only in hourly increments; there shall be no fractional accruals.
(3) A Covered Employee who is exempt from overtime requirements under this chapter shall be assumed to work 40 hours in each work week for purposes of Paid Sick Leave accrual, unless the Covered Employee's normal work week is less than 40 hours, in which case Paid Sick Leave shall, accrue based upon that normal work week.
(4) For each Covered Employee, there shall be a cap of 40 hours Paid Sick Leave accrued per 12-month period, unless the Employer sets a higher limit. The 12-month period for a Covered Employee shall be calculated from the date the Covered Employee began to accrue Paid Sick Leave.
(5) At the end of a Covered Employee's 12-month accrual period, the Covered Employee shall be allowed to carry over to the following 12-month period half of the Covered Employee's unused accrued Paid Sick Leave, up to a maximum of 20 hours.
(6) If an Employer is subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act, each of the Employer's Covered Employees shall be allowed, at the end of the Covered Employee's 12-month Paid Sick Leave accrual period, to carry over up to 40 hours of the Covered Employee's unused accrued Paid Sick Leave, in addition to the carryover allowed under subsection 6-105-045(b)(5), to use exclusively for Family and Medical Leave Act eligible purposes.
(7) If an Employer has a policy that grants Covered Employees paid time off in an amount and a manner that meets the requirements for Paid Sick Leave under this section, the Employer is not required to provide additional paid leave. If such Employer's policy awards the full complement of paid time off immediately upon date of eligibility, rather than using an accrual model, the Employer must award each Covered Employee 40 hours paid time off within one calendar year of the Covered Employee's date of eligibility.
(8) Unused Paid Sick Leave shall be retained by the Covered Employee if the Employer sells, transfers, or otherwise assigns the business to another Employer and the Covered Employee continues to work in the City.
(c) Use of paid sick leave.
(1) An Employer shall allow a Covered Employee to begin using Paid Sick Leave no later than on the 180th calendar day following the commencement of the Covered Employee's employment. A Covered Employee is entitled to use no more than 40 hours of Paid Sick Leave per 12-month period, unless the Covered Employee's Employer sets a higher limit. The 12-month period for a Covered Employee shall be calculated from the date the Covered Employee began to accrue Paid Sick Leave. If a Covered Employee carries over 40 hours of Family and Medical Leave Act leave pursuant to subsection 6-105-045(b)(6) and uses that leave, the Covered Employee is entitled to use no more than an additional 20 hours of accrued Paid Sick Leave in the same 12-month period, unless the Employer sets a higher limit. Within these limitations, Covered Employee shall be allowed to determine how much accrued Paid Sick Leave the Covered Employee needs to use, provided that the Covered Employee's Employer may set a reasonable minimum increment requirement not to exceed four hours per day.
(2) A Covered Employee may use Paid Sick Leave when:
(A) the Covered Employee is ill or injured, or for the purpose of receiving professional care, including preventive care, diagnosis, or treatment, for medical, mental, or behavioral issues, including substance use disorders;
(B) a member of the Covered Employee's family is ill, injured, or ordered to quarantine, or to care for a family member receiving professional care, including preventive care, diagnosis, or treatment, for medical, mental, or behavioral issues, including substance use disorders;
(C) the Covered Employee, or a member of the Covered Employee's family, is the victim of domestic violence, as defined in Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986, or a sex offense, defined here as any conduct proscribed in Article 11 and Sections 12-7.3, 12-7.4, and 12-7.5 of the Illinois Criminal Code of 2012, or trafficking in persons as defined in Section 10-9 of the Illinois Criminal Code of 2012 (720 ILCS 5/10-9); or
(D) the Covered Employee's place of business is closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency, or the Covered Employee needs to care for a family member whose school, class, or place of care has been closed.
(E) a Covered Employee obeys an order issued by the Mayor, the Governor of Illinois, the Chicago Department of Public Health, or a treating healthcare provider, requiring the Covered Employee to:
(i) stay at home to minimize the transmission of a communicable disease;
(ii) remain at home while experiencing symptoms or sick with a communicable disease;
(iii) obey a quarantine order issued to the Covered Employee;
(iv) obey an isolation order issued to the Covered Employee.
(3) An Employer shall not require, as a condition of a Covered Employee taking Paid Sick Leave, that the Covered Employee search for or find a replacement worker to cover the hours during which the Covered Employee is on Paid Sick Leave.
(4) If a Covered Employee's need for Paid Sick Leave is reasonably foreseeable, an Employer may require up to seven days' notice before leave is taken. If the need for Paid Sick Leave is not reasonably foreseeable, an Employer may require a Covered Employee to give notice as soon as is practicable on the day the Covered Employee intends to take Paid Sick Leave by notifying the Employer through via phone, e-mail, or text message. For purposes of this subsection, needs that are "reasonably foreseeable" include, but are not limited to, prescheduled appointments with health care providers for the Covered Employee or for a family member, and court dates in domestic violence cases. Any notice requirement imposed by an Employer pursuant to this subsection shall be waived in the event a Covered Employee is unable to give notice because the Covered Employee is unconscious, or otherwise medically incapacitated.
(5) Where a Covered Employee is absent for more than three consecutive work days, the Covered Employee's Employer may require certification that the use of Paid Sick Leave was authorized under subsection 6-105-045(c)(2). For time used pursuant to subsections 6-105-045(c)(2)(A) or (B), documentation signed by a licensed health care provider shall satisfy this requirement. An Employer shall not require that such documentation specify the nature of the Covered Employee's or the Covered Employee's family member's injury, illness, or condition, except as required by law. For Paid Sick Leave used pursuant to subsection 6-105-045(c)(2)(C), a police report, court document, a signed statement from an attorney, a member of the clergy, or a victim services advocate, or any other evidence that supports the Covered Employee's claim, including a written statement from the Covered Employee or any other person who has knowledge of the circumstances, shall satisfy this requirement. The Covered Employee may choose which document to submit, and no more than one document shall be required if the Paid Sick Leave is related to the same incident of violence or the same perpetrator. The Employer shall not delay the commencement of Paid Sick Leave taken for one of the purposes in subsection 6-105-045(c)(2), nor delay payment of Wages, on the basis that the Employer has not yet received the required certification.
(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an Employer from taking disciplinary action, up to and including termination, against a Covered Employee who uses Paid Sick Leave for purposes other than those described in this subsection 6-105-045(c)(2).
(d) This Section 6-105-045 provides minimum Paid Sick Leave requirements; it shall not be construed to affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater Paid Sick Leave benefits.
(Added Coun. J. 6-25-21, p. 32156, § 5)