Gov. Pritzker signs measure requiring paid leave for workers beginning Jan. 1
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday signed into law a bill that mandates paid leave for Illinois workers.
The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, grants employees of businesses of any size one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked up to a maximum of 40 total paid hours per year.
“Today, we will become the third state in the nation to require paid time off and the first among the largest states,” Pritzker said during a signing ceremony in the Loop. “I’m exceptionally proud that labor and business came together to recognize the value of this requirement to employees and employers alike.”
Pritzker’s office said this bill will provide “approximately 1.5 million workers” paid time off once it takes effect in 2024.
Pritzker was joined by several lawmakers who worked to pass bill, which was approved by both legislative chambers on the last day of the lame-duck session in January. Some told personal stories about having to miss work to take care of a family member.
“I stand here today particularly proud as a working mom who has a young daughter who is in the hospital and the doctor’s office far (more) often than I would ever like her to be,” Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, a Democrat from Peoria, said.
Gordon-Booth said the bill will allow Illinoisans the ability to take care of family while also “being able to put food on the table.”
Critics of the bill have argued it could hurt small businesses.
“(Small businesses) put our people to work, and we need to make sure that we are supporting our small businesses and our small-business employers,” then-state Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican, said during the Senate floor debate. “And this legislation unfortunately goes in the wrong direction for that.”
Pritzker on Monday said the mandatory paid leave law is good for both businesses and workers.
“Let’s remember that these are earned days off,” he said. “So it’s not as if you take a job one day and all of the sudden have five days off.”
He said both small and big businesses benefit when their workers “deal with their stresses and emergencies at home so they can be better and more productive at work.”
The law provides paid leave to workers “for any reason.” Employees can take paid leave 90 days after starting a job and must be paid their regular hourly rate. Penalties for violation of the law start with a $500 fine.
“Why should a person have to think for just one second if they will risk losing their job or losing wages if they stay home to take care of themselves or their loved?” Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, a Democrat from Maywood, said.
The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association initially opposed the bill, but shifted to a neutral stance amid negotiations that took place over a proposal several years in the making. On Monday, Aneesa Muthana, CEO of Pioneer Service Inc. in Addison, which makes machine parts, said she welcomes the law and that paid leave is already commonplace in the manufacturing sector.
“Nationally, more than 94% of manufacturers already provide a paid leave,” Muthana said. “We do it not because we have to. We do it because we care.”
The bill had the support of labor, with AFL-CIO Illinois President Tim Drea saying the measure “gives a worker paid time off when work gets in the way of life.”