Paid sick leave debate comes to Illinois this week.
4 Illinois Paid Sick Leave Bills That Could Effect Your Small Business
An avalanche of mandated paid sick leave bills flooded committee rooms in Springfield this week, from proposals that would require that small business owners dole out one hour of leave for every 22 hours worked to 12 weeks of leave during any 12-month period.
At present, paid sick laws are or will soon be in place in 23 jurisdictions across the country, including four states, the District of Columbia and 18 localities.
Is Illinois next? Here are the bills that could answer that question.
1. HB 3297 (Rep. C. Mitchell) Paid Health Care Leave. Creates the Employee Paid Health Care Time Act to require any employer employing one or more individual to provide paid health care time, accruing at a rate of one hour for every 22 hours worked for an employer with 50 or more employees and at a rate of one hour for every 40 hours worked for an employer with fewer than 50 employees.
NFIB’s Take: Nationwide survey of firms with under 200 employees showed 73 percent offer paid time off to full-time workers to be used however the employee chooses. Sixty-seven percent offer two weeks or more.
2. SB 2147 (Sen. Hutchinson) Healthy Workplace Act. Creates the Healthy Workplace Act to require employers to provide specified paid sick days to employees. Employees will be able to earn up to 7 paid sick days in a 12-month period for certain circumstances.
NFIB’s Take: The majority of small businesses provide paid time off. Flexibility, not government mandate, is key for businesses who want to offer this benefit to employees. Mandated paid sick leave will endanger other employee benefits, pay and hours worked.
3. HB 4036 (Rep. Lilly) VESSA Leave. Amends the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act to require all employers to provide a total of 12 workweeks of leave for during any 12-month period (previously small employers were only required to provide 8 weeks).
NFIB’s Take: As originally passed, the VESSA leave bill took into account how difficult it is for small businesses to have an employee gone for 12 weeks as they have far less financial and HR capacity to withstand a 12 week absence of one, or more employees.
4. HB 6162 (Rep. Skoog)/SB 3097 (Sen. Collins) Employee Sick Leave. Creates the Employee Sick Leave Act and mandates employers to allow employees to use their paid sick leave benefits for absences due to an illness, injury, or medical appointment of the employee’s child, spouse, sibling, parent, mother/father-in-law, grandchild/parent, or stepparent.
NFIB’s Take: Smaller firms need to have flexibility to meet the needs of employees as well as the business. Majority of firms offer paid time off and allow workers to use for personal needs of any sort including caring for loved ones.
