On March 14, 2024, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed an amendment to the new Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance and approved the final draft of proposed rules under the Ordinance. The new amendment, effective immediately, postpones the implementation of the Ordinance for public school districts and park districts until January 1, 2025. The new rules clarify certain employee rights and employer responsibilities under the Ordinance, while leaving some important questions unanswered. The County is also contemplating issuance of additional procedural rules governing park districts and school districts. 

Tracking closely with the new Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act (PLAWA), the Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance, which went into effect on December 31, 2023, requires employers to provide employees a minimum of 40 hours of paid leave “for any reason of the employee’s choosing,” accruing at a rate of at least 1 hour paid leave for every 40 hours worked. The Ordinance applies broadly to nearly all employees in Cook County including domestic workers, though it excludes certain higher education and federal railroad employees. The non-binding FAQs published by the County make clear that the Ordinance applies equally to part-time, full-time, and seasonal workers, as well as short-term workers employed by staffing agencies. 

Temporary exemption for public school and park district employers 

Like the Illinois PLAWA, the Cook County Ordinance adapts the definition of “employer” from Sections 1 and 2 of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, which includes: 

any individual, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, business trust, employment and labor placement agencies where wage payments are made directly or indirectly by the agency or business for work undertaken by employees under hire to a third party pursuant to a contract between the business or agency with the third party, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, for which one or more persons is gainfully employed (820 ILCS 115/2). 

However, while the Illinois PLAWA expressly exempted public school district and park district employers from its requirements, the Cook County Ordinance did not. This lack of exemption for school and park districts prompted pushback in January by suburban school districts who criticized the unfunded mandate and the unique administrative, financial, and operational burdens that the Ordinance would place on them, including districts that straddled multiple counties. In response to these lobbying efforts, several Commissioners proposed changes to the Ordinance’s definition of “employer.” Under the amendment that was passed on March 14, the Ordinance now temporarily exempts “school districts organized under the Illinois School Code or park districts organized under the Illinois Park District Code,” but only until January 1, 2025. After that date, public school and park districts are expected to be fully compliant with the Ordinance. 

While the County evidently maintains that it has authority to regulate paid leave for public school districts, that issue has yet to be settled under Illinois law. The County’s decision not to exempt school districts from the ordinance may set the stage for litigation over the scope of the County’s regulatory authority over terms and conditions of employment for school district employees.  

Proposed rules clarifying employee rights and employer responsibilities 

The final draft of the Cook County Paid Leave procedural rules, also approved at the March 14 Board meeting, further defines and clarifies employee rights and employer responsibilities under the Ordinance. The proposed rules explain how employers should implement the various paid leave methods; develop policies and procedures; and comply with posting, payout, record-keeping, and other requirements under the Ordinance. Some key points are highlighted below. 

Definition of employee 

Section 310.100 defines “employee” as an individual who performs compensated work while physically present within the geographic boundaries of Cook County. The rules clarify that employees are exempt from the Ordinance if they are covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement that was entered into before December 31, 2023, or if they explicitly waived their rights under the Ordinance in a collective bargaining agreement that was entered into after December 31, 2023. 

Exempt employers 

Section 320.100 expressly exempts employers if: 

1. Federal or state law preempts the employer from being covered by the Ordinance; 
2. The employer exclusively employs employees who are exempt from the Ordinance and the rules; or 
3. The employer is a government employer, including (a) the federal government or a corporation wholly owned by the government; (b) an Indian tribe or corporation wholly owned by the tribe; and (c) the state government, agency, or department. 

Notably, the proposed rules make clear that employees and employers in municipalities that have “lawfully preempted” the Ordinance are exempt from its requirements.  

Employer methods for calculating paid leave 

Section 400.100 states that employers are required to provide employees with a written policy that outlines which paid leave methods are being used by the employer (i.e., accrual, front-loading, and/or some combination thereof) and which paid leave method applies to each employee group (full-time, part-time, etc.). For employers using an accrual method, the rules explain how to determine an employee’s date of initial accrual and how to calculate accrued paid leave for overtime-exempt and overtime-eligible employees. One point to note is that while paid leave accrues continuously up to the cap, an employer is not required to award paid leave in fractional increments unless the employer chooses to do so. The rules also explain how an employer can implement front-loading and mixed calculation methods in ways that comply with the Ordinance.  

Regardless of the methods used, employers should always provide appropriate notice to employees and maintain clear and up-to-date documentation of all hours worked and paid leave hours earned and/or provided. If an employer “cannot produce a copy of the written Paid Leave policy…Employees may use Paid Leave pursuant to the Ordinance without providing prior notification and without discipline” (Section 500.300). 

Denial of paid leave 

Section 500.400 clarifies that an employer may deny an employee’s leave request under the following conditions: 

1. The employer’s paid leave policy is disclosed to the employee in writing,
2. Restrictions on an employee’s use of paid leave is limited to the employee’s regular work week, and 
3. The employer’s paid leave policy establishes limited circumstances in which paid leave may be denied to meet the employer’s “core operational needs” for the requested time period. Relevant factors include:
   1. Whether the employer provides a need or service “critical to the health, safety, or welfare of the people of Cook County; 
   2. Whether similarly situated employees are treated the same for the purposes of reviewing, approving, and denying paid leave; and 
   3. Whether granting leave during a particular time period would “significantly impact” business operations due to the employer’s size. 

Payout of paid leave 

Section 500.600 clarifies that employers must pay out any unused accrued paid leave within 15 days of the employee’s separation from employment at the employee’s regular rate of pay. 

Finally, the rules make clear that the Ordinance and the rules set minimum requirements for employers, and that nothing prevents employers from adopting paid leave policies that are more generous than these requirements. 

We will continue to provide updates on the Cook County Ordinance as needed.