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1		AN ACT concerning employment.
2		Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3		represented in the General Assembly:
4		Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5		Healthy Workplace Act.
6		Section 5. Findings and purpose.
7		(a) The General Assembly finds:
8		(1) Nearly every worker in the State is likely to need
9		time off to attend to his or her own illness or that of a
10		family member. More than 30% of all private sector workers
11		in Illinois (almost 2,000,000 people) have no right to a
12		paid sick day. Over three-fourths of the lowest-wage
13		workers do not receive paid sick time and cannot forfeit a
14		day's work, so they often come into work sick.
15		(2) Preventive and routine medical care helps avoid
16		illness and injury by detecting illnesses early on and
17		shortening the duration of illnesses. Providing employees
18		with time off to attend to their own health care needs
19		ensures that they will be healthier and more efficient
20		employees. It will also reduce the spread of disease within
21		workplaces and to the public, such as customers, when
22		employees go to work sick, a practice known as
23		"presenteeism". Routine medical care results in savings by

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1		detecting and treating illness and injury early and
2		decreasing the need for emergency care. These savings
3		benefit public and private payers of health insurance.
4		(3) When the school of a worker's child is closed
5		because of extreme weather, it is often at the last minute
6		and workers cannot find someone to babysit, so they are
7		forced to stay at home to take care of their children.
8		(4) Nearly one-quarter of American women report
9		domestic violence and nearly one in 5 women report
10		experiencing rape at some time during their lives. Many
11		workers, men and women, need time off to care for their
12		health after these incidents or to take legal action.
13		Without paid time off, victims are in danger of losing
14		their jobs.
15		(5) Employed individuals who have court appointments,
16		sentencing hearings, probation, conditional discharge,
17		parole, or mandatory supervised release requirements, or
18		are visiting a family member in jail or prison need paid
19		time off work so that their families do not fall further
20		into economic jeopardy and so that they are not further
21		penalized, as these court-related events are frequently
22		scheduled during work hours.
23		(6) Employers that provide paid sick time see better
24		productivity, reduced flu contagion, and lower turnover,
25		which saves them the costs of replacing and training
26		workers.

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1		(b) This Act is enacted to establish the Healthy Workplace
2		Act to provide at least a minimum time-off standard of paid
3		sick time for all workers.
4		Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
5		"Child" means a son or daughter who is a biological,
6		adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, a child of
7		a person standing in loco parentis, or any other individual
8		whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of
9		a child.
10		"Construction industry" means any constructing, altering,
11		reconstructing, repairing, rehabilitating, refinishing,
12		refurbishing, remodeling, remediating, renovating, custom
13		fabricating, maintenance, landscaping, improving, wrecking,
14		painting, decorating, demolishing, or adding to or subtracting
15		from any building, structure, highway, roadway, street,
16		bridge, alley, sewer, ditch, sewage disposal plant,
17		waterworks, parking facility, railroad, excavation or other
18		structure, project, development, real property, or
19		improvement, or to do any part thereof, whether or not the
20		performance of the work herein described involves the addition
21		to or fabrication into, any structure, project, development,
22		real property, or improvement herein described of any material
23		or article of merchandise.
24		"Construction industry" also includes moving construction
25		related materials on the job site or to or from the job site,

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1		snow plowing, snow removal, and refuse collection.
2		"Department" means the Illinois Department of Labor.
3		"Employ" means to suffer or permit to work.
4		"Employee" means any person who performs services for an
5		employer for wage, remuneration, or other compensation. This
6		includes persons working any number of hours, including a
7		full-time or part-time status.
8		"Employee" does not include any person who the employer
9		establishes:
10		(A) has been and will continue to be free from
11		control and direction over the performance of their
12		work, both under a contract of service and in fact;
13		(B) is engaged in an independently established
14		trade, occupation, profession or business; or
15		(C) is deemed a legitimate sole proprietor or
16		partnership.
17		A sole proprietor or partnership shall be deemed to be
18		legitimate if the employer establishes that:
19		(1) the sole proprietor or partnership is performing
20		the service free from the direction or control over the
21		means and manner of providing the service, subject only to
22		the right of the employer for whom the service is provided
23		to specify the desired result;
24		(2) the sole proprietor or partnership is not subject
25		to cancellation or destruction upon severance of the
26		relationship with the employer;

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1		(3) the sole proprietor or partnership has a
2		substantial investment of capital in the sole
3		proprietorship or partnership beyond the ordinary tools
4		and equipment and a personal vehicle;
5		(4) the sole proprietor or partnership owns the capital
6		goods and gains the profits and bears the losses of the
7		sole proprietorship or partnership;
8		(5) the sole proprietor or partnership makes its
9		services available to the general public on a continuing
10		basis;
11		(6) the sole proprietor or partnership includes
12		services rendered on a Federal Income Tax Schedule as an
13		independent business or profession;
14		(7) the sole proprietor or partnership performs
15		services for the contractor under the sole proprietor's or
16		partnership's name;
17		(8) when the services being provided require a license
18		or permit, the sole proprietor or partnership obtains and
19		pays for the license or permit in the sole proprietorship's
20		or partnership's name;
21		(9) the sole proprietor or partnership furnishes the
22		tools and equipment necessary to provide the service;
23		(10) if necessary, the sole proprietor or partnership
24		hires its own employees without approval of the employer,
25		pays the employees without reimbursement from the employer
26		and reports the employees' income to the Internal Revenue

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1		Service;
2		(11) the employer does not represent the sole
3		proprietorship or partnership as an employee of the
4		employer to the public; and
5		(12) the sole proprietor or partnership has the right
6		to perform similar services for others on whatever basis
7		and whenever it chooses.
8		"Employee" does not include any employee of an employer
9		subject to the Railway Labor Act.
10		Nothing in this Act shall hinder or prohibit the ability of
11		an exempted employee from taking uncompensated time off due to
12		any reason for leave allowable for paid sick time under Section
13		15.
14		"Employer" means any individual; person; partnership;
15		association; corporation; limited liability company; business
16		trust; employment or labor placement agency or business where
17		wages are made directly or indirectly by the agency or business
18		for work undertaken by the employee under hire to a third party
19		pursuant to a contact between the agency or business with the
20		third party; the State of Illinois and local governments; or
21		any political subdivision of the State or local government, or
22		State or local government agency; for which one or more persons
23		is gainfully employed, express or implied, whether lawfully or
24		unlawfully employed, who employs a worker or who employs a
25		worker not excluded as an employee pursuant to the definition
26		of "employee" or, notwithstanding any other law, who is the

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1		employer or joint employer for collective bargaining purposes
2		of a bargaining unit of employees. "Employer" does not include
3		school districts organized under the School Code, park
4		districts organized under the Park District Code, or any City
5		of Chicago Sister Agency under the Chicago Minimum Wage and
6		Paid Sick Leave Ordinance as of the effective date of this Act.
7		"Family member" means a child, spouse, parent, child or
8		parent of an employee's spouse, sibling, grandparent,
9		grandchild, or any other individual related by blood or whose
10		close association with the employee is the equivalent of a
11		family relationship.
12		"Health care provider" means a person:
13		(1) who is:
14		(A) licensed to practice medicine in all of its
15		branches in Illinois and possesses the degree of doctor
16		of medicine;
17		(B) licensed to practice medicine in all of its
18		branches in Illinois and possesses the degree of doctor
19		of osteopathy or osteopathic medicine;
20		(C) licensed to practice medicine in all of its
21		branches or as an osteopathic physician in another
22		state or jurisdiction;
23		(D) a chiropractic physician licensed under the
24		Medical Practice Act of 1987; or
25		(E) any other person determined by final rule as of
26		the date this Act becomes law under the Family and

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1		Medical Leave Act of 1993; and
2		(2) who is not employed by an employer to whom the
3		provider issues certifications under this Act.
4		"Paid sick time" means a portion of or an entire scheduled
5		or regular workday when an employee is unable to report to work
6		because of a reason described in subsection (b) of Section 15.
7		"Parent" means a biological, adoptive, or foster parent, a
8		stepparent, a parent of a legal ward, a person who stands in
9		loco parentis to an employee or an employee's spouse, or any
10		other individual whose close association with the employee is
11		the equivalent of a parent.
12		"Spouse" means a party to a marriage or a party to a civil
13		union as defined by law.
14		"Victim services organization" means a nonprofit,
15		nongovernmental organization that provides assistance to
16		victims of domestic or sexual violence, including rape crisis
17		centers, organizations carrying out a domestic violence
18		program, organizations operating a shelter or providing
19		counseling services, and a legal services organization or other
20		organization providing assistance through the legal process.
21		Section 15. Provision of paid sick time.
22		(a) An employee who works in Illinois who is absent from
23		work for a reason set forth in subsection (b) is entitled to
24		earn and use a minimum of 40 hours of paid sick time during a
25		12-month period or a pro rata number of hours of paid sick time

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1		under the provisions of subsection (c). The 12-month period for
2		an employee shall be calculated annually from the date of hire
3		or the effective date of this Act, whichever is later.
4		(b) Paid sick time shall be provided to an employee by an
5		employer to:
6		(1) care for the employee's own physical or mental
7		illness, injury, or health condition, or seek medical
8		diagnosis or care, or attend a medical appointment;
9		(2) care for the employee's family member who is
10		suffering from a physical or mental illness, injury, or
11		health condition, or seek medical diagnosis or care, or
12		attend a medical appointment;
13		(3) care for a child whose school or place of care has
14		been closed by order of a public official due to a public
15		health emergency or to not go in to work because of the
16		closure of the employee's place of business by order of a
17		public official due to a public health emergency;
18		(4) be absent from work because the employee or the
19		employee's family member is the victim of:
20		(A) domestic violence as defined in Section 103(3)
21		of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986; or
22		(B) sexual violence, which means:
23		(i) any conduct proscribed by Article 11 of the
24		Criminal Code of 2012 except Sections 11-35 and
25		11-45;
26		(ii) Sections 12-7.3, 12-7.4, and 12-7.5 of

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1		the Criminal Code of 2012; or
2		(iii) a similar provision of the Criminal Code
3		of 1961; or
4		(5) be absent from work to visit the employee's family
5		member who is in jail or prison, for the employee to attend
6		his or her own or his or her family member's appointment
7		regarding court sentencing, probation, conditional
8		discharge, parole, or mandatory supervised release
9		requirements, or any other civil or criminal court hearing
10		or trial.
11		(c) Paid sick time shall accrue at the rate of one hour of
12		paid sick time for every 40 hours worked up to a minimum of 40
13		hours of paid sick time unless the employer selects a higher
14		limit. Employees who are exempt from the overtime requirements
15		of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. 213(a)(1))
16		shall be deemed to work 40 hours in each work week for purposes
17		of paid sick time accrual unless their normal work week is less
18		than 40 hours, in which case paid sick time accrues based on
19		that normal work week. Employees shall determine how much paid
20		sick time they need to use, provided that employers may set a
21		reasonable minimum increment for the use of paid sick time not
22		to exceed 4 hours per day.
23		(d) Employees shall be paid their regular rate of pay for
24		paid sick time. However, employees engaged in an occupation in
25		which gratuities or commissions have customarily and usually
26		constituted and have been recognized as part of the

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1		remuneration for hire purposes shall be paid by their employer
2		at least the full minimum wage in the jurisdiction in which
3		they are employed when paid sick time is taken. Paid sick time
4		under this Act shall not be charged or otherwise credited to
5		employee vacation accounts.
6		(e) Paid sick time shall begin to accrue at the
7		commencement of employment or on the effective date of this
8		Act, whichever is later. Employees shall be entitled to begin
9		using paid sick time 180 days following commencement of their
10		employment or 180 days following the effective date of this
11		Act, whichever is later. Nothing in this Section shall be
12		construed to discourage or prohibit an employer from allowing
13		the use of paid sick time at an earlier date than this Section
14		requires. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to discourage
15		employers from adopting or retaining paid sick time policies
16		more generous than policies that comply with the requirements
17		of this Act.
18		(f) An employer may require certification of the qualifying
19		illness, injury, or health condition, or for time used pursuant
20		to item (1) or (2) of subsection (b), when paid sick time used
21		covers more than 3 consecutive workdays. Any reasonable
22		documentation signed by a health care provider of the
23		employee's choice involved in following or treating the
24		illness, injury, or health condition, and indicating the need
25		for the amount of sick time taken, shall be deemed acceptable
26		certification. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to

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1		require an employee to provide as certification any information
2		from a health care provider that would be a disclosure in
3		violation of Section 1177 of the Social Security Act or the
4		regulations promulgated pursuant to the federal Health
5		Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. If an
6		employer possesses health information or any information
7		related to domestic or sexual violence about an employee or
8		employee's family member, the information shall be treated as
9		confidential and not disclosed except with the permission of
10		the affected employee. For paid sick time used pursuant to item
11		(4) of subsection (b), any one of the following is acceptable
12		documentation, and only one of the following shall be required:
13		a police report, court document, any reasonable documentation
14		signed by a health care provider, or signed statement from an
15		attorney, a member of the clergy, a victim services
16		organization or advocate, or the employee. It is up to the
17		employee to determine which documentation to submit. If a
18		document has been submitted, the employer shall not request or
19		require any other document if the reason for the sick time is
20		related to the same incident of violence or the same
21		perpetrator of the violence. The employer shall not delay the
22		commencement of leave taken for purposes of subsection (b) nor
23		delay pay for this period on the basis that the employer has
24		not yet received the certification.
25		(g) Paid sick time shall be provided upon the oral request
26		of an employee. If the necessity for paid sick time under this

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1		Act is foreseeable, the employee shall provide the employer
2		with not less than 7 days' notice before the date the leave is
3		to begin. If the necessity for leave is not foreseeable, the
4		employee shall provide such notice as soon as is practical
5		after the employee is aware of the necessity of the leave. An
6		employer may not require, as a condition of providing paid sick
7		time under this Act, that the employee search for or find a
8		replacement worker to cover the hours during which the employee
9		is on paid sick time leave.
10		(h) Paid sick time shall carry over annually to the extent
11		not used by the employee, provided that nothing in this Act
12		shall be construed to require an employer to allow use of more
13		than 40 hours of paid sick time for an employee unless the
14		employer agrees to do so.
15		(i) It is unlawful for an employer to interfere with,
16		restrain, deny, change work days or hours scheduled to avoid
17		paying sick time, or discipline an employee for the exercise
18		of, or the attempt to exercise, any right provided under or in
19		connection with this Act, including considering the use of paid
20		sick time as a negative factor in an employment action that
21		involves hiring, terminating, evaluating, promoting,
22		disciplining, or counting the paid sick time under a no-fault
23		attendance policy.
24		(j) During any period an employee takes leave under this
25		Act, the employer shall maintain coverage for the employee and
26		any family member under any group health plan for the duration

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1		of such leave at at least the level and conditions of coverage
2		as would have been provided if the employee had not taken the
3		leave.
4		(k) Nothing in this Section shall be construed as requiring
5		financial or other payment to an employee from an employer upon
6		the employee's termination, resignation, retirement, or other
7		separation from employment for accrued paid sick time that has
8		not been used.
9		(l) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to prohibit
10		an employer from taking disciplinary action, up to and
11		including termination, against an employee who uses paid sick
12		time provided pursuant to this Act for purposes other than
13		those described in this Section.
14		(m) If an employee is transferred to a separate division,
15		entity, or location, but remains employed by the same employer,
16		the employee is entitled to all paid sick time accrued at the
17		prior division, entity, or location and is entitled to use all
18		paid sick time as provided in this Section. If there is a
19		separation from employment and the employee is rehired within
20		12 months of separation by the same employer, previously
21		accrued paid sick time that had not been used shall be
22		reinstated. The employee shall be entitled to use accrued paid
23		sick time at the commencement of employment following a
24		separation from employment of 12 months or less.
25		(n) Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to interfere
26		with, impede, or in any way diminish the right of employees to

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1		bargain collectively with their employers through
2		representatives of their own choosing in order to establish
3		wages or other conditions of work in excess of the applicable
4		minimum standards of the provisions of this Act. Nothing in
5		this Section shall be deemed to affect the validity or change
6		the terms of bona fide collective bargaining agreements in
7		force on the effective date of this Act. After the effective
8		date of this Act, requirements of this Section may be waived in
9		a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, but only if the
10		waiver is set forth explicitly in such agreement in clear and
11		unambiguous terms. In no event shall this Section apply to any
12		employee working in the construction industry who is covered by
13		a bona fide collective bargaining agreement.
14		Section 20. Related employer responsibilities.
15		(a) An employer subject to any provision of this Act shall
16		make and preserve records documenting hours worked by employees
17		and the amount of paid sick time taken by employees for a
18		period of not less than 3 years and shall allow the Department
19		access to such records, with appropriate notice and a mutually
20		agreeable time, to monitor compliance with the requirements of
21		this Section. In addition, the records shall be preserved for
22		the duration of any claim pending pursuant to Section 35.
23		(b) An agreement by employees to waive their rights under
24		this Act, except as allowed under subsection (n) of Section 15,
25		is void as against public policy.

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1		(c) Employers who have a paid time off policy that complies
2		with the requirements of this Act are not required to modify
3		the policy if such policy offers an employee the option, at the
4		employee's discretion, to take paid sick time that is at least
5		equivalent to the paid sick time described in this Act.
6		(d) An employer shall post and keep posted in a conspicuous
7		place on the premises of the employer where notices to
8		employees are customarily posted, and include in an employee
9		manual or policy if the employer has one, a notice, to be
10		prepared by the Department, summarizing the requirements of
11		this Act and information pertaining to the filing of a charge.
12		If an employer's workforce is comprised of a significant
13		portion of workers who are not literate in English, the
14		employer is responsible for providing the notice in a language
15		in which the employees are literate. An employer who willfully
16		violates the notice and posting requirements of this Section
17		shall be subject to a civil penalty to be paid to the employee
18		in an amount not to exceed $100 for each separate offense.
19		Section 25. Unlawful employer practices. It is unlawful for
20		any employer to take any adverse action against an employee
21		because the employee (1) exercises rights or attempts to
22		exercise rights under this Act, (2) opposes practices which
23		such employee believes to be in violation of this Act, or (3)
24		supports the exercise of rights of another under this Act. Such
25		unlawful employer practices include, but are not limited to,

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1		any reference to the employee's or any of the employee's family
2		members' citizenship or immigration status, or any threat to
3		contact or actual contact with any local, State, or federal
4		government entities regarding the employee's or any of the
5		employee's family members' citizenship or immigration status,
6		or sexual harassment. Exercising rights under this Act includes
7		filing an action or instituting or causing to be instituted any
8		proceeding under or related to this Act; providing or agreeing
9		to provide any information in connection with any inquiry or
10		proceeding relating to any right provided under this Act; or
11		testifying to or agreeing to testify in any inquiry or
12		proceeding relating to any right provided under this Act.
13		Section 30. Department responsibilities.
14		(a) The Department shall administer and enforce this Act
15		and adopt rules under the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act
16		for the purpose of this Act. The Department shall have the
17		powers and the parties shall have the rights provided in the
18		Illinois Administrative Procedure Act for contested cases. The
19		Department shall have the power to conduct investigations in
20		connection with the administration and enforcement of this Act,
21		including the power to conduct depositions and discovery and to
22		issue subpoenas. If the Department finds cause to believe that
23		this Act has been violated, the Department shall notify the
24		parties in writing and the matter shall be referred to an
25		Administrative Law Judge to schedule a formal hearing in

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1		accordance with hearing procedures established by rule.
2		Administrative decisions shall be reviewed under the
3		Administrative Review Law.
4		(b) The Department is authorized to impose civil penalties
5		prescribed in Section 35 in administrative proceedings that
6		comply with the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act and to
7		supervise the payment of the unpaid wages and damages owing to
8		the employee or employees under this Act. The Department may
9		bring any legal action necessary to recover the amount of
10		unpaid wages, damages, and penalties, and the employer shall be
11		required to pay the costs. Any sums recovered by the Department
12		on behalf of an employee under this Act shall be paid to the
13		employee or employees affected. However, 20% of any penalty
14		collected from the employer for a violation of this Act shall
15		be deposited into the Healthy Workplace Fund, a special fund
16		created in the State treasury that is dedicated to enforcing
17		this Act.
18		(c) The Attorney General may bring an action to enforce the
19		collection of any civil penalty imposed under this Act.
20		Section 35. Enforcement.
21		(a) An employee who believes his or her rights under this
22		Act or any rule adopted under this Act have been violated may,
23		within 3 years after the date of the last event constituting
24		the alleged violation for which the action is brought, file a
25		complaint with the Department or file a civil action.

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1		(b) Any employer that violates this Act is liable in a
2		claim filed with the Department or in a civil action in circuit
3		court to any affected individuals for actual and compensatory
4		damages, with interest at the prevailing rate, punitive
5		damages, and such equitable relief as may be appropriate, in
6		addition to reasonable attorney's fees, reasonable expert
7		witness fees, and other costs of the action to be paid by the
8		defendant. A civil action may be brought without first filing a
9		complaint with the Department. Administrative decisions are
10		reviewable under the Administrative Review Law.
11		(c) Any employer that the Department or a court finds by a
12		preponderance of the evidence to have knowingly, repeatedly, or
13		with reckless disregard violated any provision of this Act or
14		any rule adopted under this Act is subject to a civil money
15		penalty to be paid to the employee not to exceed $2,500 for
16		each separate offense.
17		Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
18		Section 5.891 as follows:
19		(30 ILCS 105/5.891 new)
20		Sec. 5.891. The Healthy Workplace Fund.
21		Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are
22		severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
23		Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon

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1		becoming law.