Previously, in November 2023, the City of Chicago passed the Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance to go into effect December 31, 2023. This new law required employers to provide Chicago employees up to 40 hours of paid sick leave to be available for use for specific sick leave purposes AND up to 40 hours of paid leave to be used for any reason each year. However, the Chicago City Council has delayed the effective date of the ordinance to July 1, 2024.

In addition to this delay, the City Council made other changes to the ordinance that may affect employers. Originally, the ordinance applied to employees who worked at least two hours in a two-week period in the City of Chicago. Under the changes, the ordinance will now apply to employees who work at least 80 hours in a 120-day period in the City of Chicago.

Further, the ordinance has been updated to include a one-year cure period, meaning that employees will not be able to bring a claim against employers under the ordinance for one year after the July 1, 2024 effective date (i.e., July 1, 2025). Between July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026, employers will be given 16 days to fix any violation of the ordinance before an employee can file a claim.

No changes were made to the actual leave portion of the ordinance. A discussion of this portion of the ordinance can be found here.