Illinois has published final regulations, implementing the state’s Paid Leave for All Workers Act. The final regulations differ slightly from the proposed regulations issued last year. Specifically, the regulations impose the following new requirements on employers:
- While employers may use a pre-existing policy that provides as much leave for any reason as required by the Act, the pre-existing policy must have been enacted prior to January 1, 2024, and have been in effect on January 1, 2024, to qualify. However, such pre-existing policies may be amended after January 1 so long as they still provide the minimum amount of time required by the law.
- Leave accrual calculations must be made on a minute-by-minute basis or may be rounded up to the next 15 minutes. An employer may not round down time worked.
- Employers may impose a 40-hour carryover cap through a valid written policy.
- An employer may deny a request for paid leave if all of the following conditions are met:
- The employer’s policy for considering leave requests under the Act, including any basis for denial is disclosed to the employee, in writing;
- The employer’s paid leave policy establishes certain limited circumstances in which paid leave may be denied in order to meet the employer’s operational needs for the requested time period; and
- As a matter of fact, the employer’s policy is consistently applied to similarly situated employees and does not effectively deny an employee adequate opportunity to use all paid leave time they are entitled to over a 12-month period.
The final regulations are effective immediately.
