Illinois: Paid Sick Leave Requirements
The short answer
Illinois generally requires covered employees who work in the state to earn up to 40 hours of paid leave in a 12-month period at one hour per 40 hours worked, with use beginning after 90 days. The leave may be used for any reason, without giving a reason or documentation. Employers may instead frontload the full required amount and avoid carryover; otherwise unused accrued leave carries over, while annual use may remain limited to 40 hours.
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This is the general rule in Illinois. Ezel applies current Illinois law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and local interaction | Paid Leave for All Workers Act, 820 ILCS 192/1-99: statewide paid leave usable for any reason. Employers covered by a municipal/county paid-leave ordinance effective Jan. 1, 2024 generally follow that ordinance; uncovered employees remain under the Act. A later local ordinance must provide benefits, rights, and remedies at least equal to the Act (§ 15(p); 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.270). |
|---|---|
| Employer and employee coverage | No employer-size threshold. Covers an employee who works in Illinois; domestic workers are included. Employer excludes school and park districts. Employee exclusions: covered railroad/Railway Labor Act workers, specified part-time college/university student workers, and certain higher-education workers employed <2 consecutive quarters with no reasonable rehire expectation. Construction-industry CBA employees and CBA parcel-delivery workers are excluded; other post-1/1/24 CBA waivers must be explicit, clear, and unambiguous (§§ 10, 15(n)). |
| Accrual and annual entitlement | Accrual begins at employment start: ≥1 hour per 40 hours worked, up to the 40-hour minimum in a 12-month period. Count actual work including overtime, not paid/unpaid leave. FLSA-exempt employee is deemed 40 hours/week unless the regular week is shorter. Use begins after 90 days (§ 15(a)-(b), (g); 56 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 200.210-.220). |
| Frontloading, caps, and carryover | Employer may frontload no less than the amount the employee would accrue, including a prorated part-time amount with added accrual if actual hours exceed the estimate. Full frontloading eliminates mandatory carryover and may be use-it-or-lose-it. Under accrual, unused leave carries over; policy may cap carryover and annual use at 40 hours. Employer/employee may instead agree annually in writing to year-end payout (§ 15(c), (i); 56 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 200.230, 200.320). |
| Qualifying uses and family | Any reason chosen by the employee. No illness, family relationship, safety event, closure, or other reason is required, and the employee chooses whether to use this leave before another employer- or state-law leave (§ 15(a), (e)). |
| Requests, notice, documentation, and increments | Oral or written request under a reasonable written policy. Foreseeable leave: employer may require ≤7 calendar days' notice; unforeseeable: as soon as practicable. No reason, documentation/certification, or replacement worker. Employee chooses the amount; employer minimum increment ≤2 hours, or the scheduled workday if shorter. A disclosed, consistently applied policy may allow limited operational-need denials only if employees still have adequate opportunity to use all leave (§ 15(b), (e), (h); 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.310). |
| Pay, payout, reinstatement, and records | Pay hourly rate; tipped/commission workers receive at least the full applicable minimum wage, and rules use the higher of that wage or agreed base hourly rate. Maintain group health coverage on existing terms. No standalone separation payout; if credited to a PTO/vacation bank, pay unused leave like vacation. Same-employer transfer preserves leave; rehire within 12 months restores unused leave. Keep name/address, daily hours, weekly earned/used/denied/balance records ≥3 years; employee/IDOL access and balance on request (§§ 15(f), (j)-(m), 20(a); 56 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 200.330, 200.440). |
| Posting, retaliation, enforcement, and remedies | Post IDOL notice conspicuously; include it in a written document/manual/policy, add electronic delivery if normally communicating electronically, and use available common-language notices. Written policy due at/before employment and after changes. No interference, adverse action, negative evaluation/discipline, or no-fault attendance points for protected leave/activity. IDOL complaint within 3 years; actual underpayment, compensatory damages, $500-$1,000 employee penalty, equitable relief, attorney/expert fees and costs. General civil penalty $2,500/offense; notice audit penalty $500 first/$1,000 later (§§ 20, 25, 30, 35; 56 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 200.310, 200.450). |
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Requirements one by one
Separate earning, use, and carryover
Under § 15 and 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.220, the standard accrual rate reaches
40 hours after 1,600 hours worked. That is an earning floor, while § 200.320
allows an employer to keep annual use at 40 hours and to cap carryover at 40
hours. Those numbers answer different questions: an employee can begin a year
with carried leave and continue earning, but the policy may still limit how
much is usable that year.
A full frontload changes the carryover result. Section 15(c) lets the employer
make the required amount available at the start of employment or the 12-month
period and then require unused time to be used by year-end or forfeited. A
part-time estimate must be corrected with added accrual if the employee works
more than anticipated under 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.230.
Treat “any reason” literally
Section 15(e) does not create a list of medical or family uses. The employee
chooses the reason and need not disclose it or support it with documentation or
certification. The employee also chooses whether to use this paid leave before
another employer-provided or state-law leave.
That makes a policy narrower than the statute if it limits the 40-hour floor to
illness, medical appointments, family care, or another approved-purpose list.
Put request rules and any operational denials in writing
Section 15(h) permits at most seven calendar days' notice for foreseeable leave
and notice as soon as practicable for unforeseeable leave. The request itself
may be oral or written, and the employer cannot condition leave on finding a
replacement worker.
Under 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.310, an operational-need denial is lawful only
under a disclosed written policy with limited denial circumstances, consistent
application to similarly situated employees, and enough real opportunity for
employees to use the full leave entitlement. The same rule requires the policy
in English and other languages commonly spoken by the workforce and requires
electronic delivery where that is the employer's regular communication method.
Keep statutory leave separate if separation payout is not intended
Section 15(j) creates no standalone payout right for unused PLAWA leave at
separation. But § 15(l) changes the result when the employer credits that leave
to a vacation or PTO bank: the unused combined balance is then paid to the same
extent as vacation under Illinois law. Separate accounting therefore affects
the payout result.
The no-payout rule does not erase the balance in every circumstance. Section
15(k) preserves leave through a same-employer transfer and restores unused
accrued leave when the employee is rehired within 12 months.
Section 15(f) and 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.330 require the hourly rate for paid
leave; tipped and commissioned workers receive the higher minimum described in
the rule instead of relying on tips or commissions during the leave hours.
Preserve the records that show each decision
Section 20 requires at least three years of hours-worked, accrued, used, and
remaining-balance records. The fuller list in 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.440 also
includes the employee's name and address, daily hours, denied requests, weekly
balances, and the balance at separation. The employee and IDOL may obtain the
records on request; the Act does not require the balance on every paystub.
The physical poster rule is supplemented by 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.450: an
employer that regularly communicates electronically must also deliver the
Department's notice through that regular electronic method.
What trips people up
The local-law boundary turns on January 1, 2024. Section 15(p) and 56 Ill.
Adm. Code § 200.270 generally
leaves employers covered by an ordinance already effective on that date under
the local system. A later ordinance must equal or exceed the statewide Act, and
employees not actually covered by the older ordinance still receive the state
floor.
A union workplace is not automatically exempt. Section 15(n) protects
agreements already in effect January 1, 2024 and permits later waiver only in
explicit, clear, and unambiguous terms. Construction-industry CBA employees and
specified national/international parcel-delivery CBA employees have categorical
exclusions.
The two-hour increment is a ceiling. An employer may choose a smaller
increment, but not a larger one. If the scheduled workday is shorter than two
hours, the scheduled day is the measure.
Changing hours to avoid accrual is itself prohibited. Section 20(e) bars an
employer from changing workdays or hours to avoid providing eligible leave.
Common questions
Can an employer require a doctor's note or ask why the leave is needed?
No for the statutory paid-leave floor. Section 15(e) says the employee need not
give a reason and may not be required to provide documentation or certification.
Can an employer deny leave during a busy period?
Only under the limited rule in 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 200.310. The operational
reason must be stated in a disclosed written policy, applied consistently, and
must not effectively prevent employees from using their entitlement.
Must unused paid leave be paid when employment ends?
Not when PLAWA leave is maintained as a separate bank. If the employer combines
or credits it into a vacation or PTO bank, § 15(l) requires payout to the same
extent as vacation.
What can an employee recover for a violation?
Under §§ 25 and 30, an IDOL claim may yield actual underpayment, compensatory
damages, a $500-to-$1,000 penalty, equitable relief, attorney fees, expert fees,
and costs. Section 35 separately authorizes a $2,500 civil penalty for each
separate offense, while § 20(d) states the lower notice-audit penalties.
Statutes and sources
- 820 ILCS 192/10, /15, /20, /25, /30, and /35. Coverage, exclusions,
accrual, frontloading, carryover, uses, requests, pay, payout, restoration,
local ordinances, records, notice, retaliation, complaints, remedies, and
penalties. Illinois General Assembly
(accessed July 22, 2026). - 56 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 200.220-.230, 200.270, 200.310-.330, and
200.440-.450. Accrual accounting, part-time frontloading, local interaction,
written policies, operational denials, carryover, pay, records, and electronic
posting. Illinois Administrative
Code
(accessed July 22, 2026). - Illinois Department of Labor PLAWA materials. Current official FAQ,
notice, forms, and implementation resources. Illinois Department of
Labor (accessed July
22, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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