Effective August 1, 2021, the City of Chicago’s Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Ordinance was amended to provide for additional uses of paid sick leave for eligible employees. Under the Amended Ordinance, an employee who works at least 80 hours for an employer within any 120-day period while physically present within the geographic boundaries of Chicago is now permitted to use paid sick leave for the following reasons:
- The 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;
- A member of the 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;
- The employee, or a member of the 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 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);
- The 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; or
- An 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 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 employee; or (iv) obey an isolation order issued to the employee.
Employers with operations in Chicago should review their current policies and practices to ensure compliance with the new amendments.