Yesterday, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law a revised version of HB 1167, which provides paid administrative leave, with no deduction of sick leave days, to fully vaccinated teachers for absences related to COVID-19. Governor Pritzker had earlier vetoed a version of this law that provided such leave to all teachers, regardless of vaccination status.

The law requires public school districts, public charter schools, and public universities to reimburse all sick leave taken by fully vaccinated teachers and employees during the 2021-2022 school year if the leave was taken due to a confirmed or probable diagnosis of COVID-19, being identified as a “close contact” of an individual with COVID-19, or due to a required exclusion from school due to COVID-19, either experienced by the employee or a child of the employee. “Fully vaccinated” is defined by the Act as receiving both the required initial vaccinations and the booster. Employees who have not yet received booster doses of the vaccine may still qualify for the reimbursement if they provide proof that they have received the booster dose within five weeks of the effective date of the bill. HB 1167 also provides that, should the definition of “fully vaccinated against COVID-19” later be changed by the CDC, it will have no effect on the sick leave protections provided to school district staff under HB 1167 and a school district may not use such definition change as a basis to rescind reimbursement of sick leave.

HB 1167 also amended the Illinois School Code by adding a provision requiring school districts to pay educational support staff their regular rate of pay and benefits for any day of school closure or e-learning when the employee  would have reported to school but for the school closure, if such day will not be made up later in the year. This provision applies to educational support staff employed directly by a public school district, and also requires districts to pay contractors who supply support staff employees to the district. There is no indication that this provision only applies to school closures or e-learning days related to COVID-19.