Greetings,
As noted in the January 12th communication from System Human Resources, beginning Jan. 1, 2024, a new law in Illinois requires that employers provide up to 40 hours of paid time off annually for all employees. The Paid Leave for All Workers Act provides up to 40 hours of paid leave per year to employees who do not currently receive vacation leave. University of Illinois Springfield employees in employment categories that earn vacation time are not eligible for additional paid leave under the Paid Leave For All Workers Act. Employees in the following employment categories that do not already receive vacation leave are eligible for Paid Leave for All Workers leave:
- Faculty with a 9-month or 10-month appointment or less
- Academic Professionals with a 9-month or a 10-month appointment
- Civil Service Extra Help
- Civil Service Seasonal Extra Help
- Hourly Faculty/Clinical/Researcher
- 9-month Post Doctoral Research Associates
Student employees, including graduate students, are not eligible. In addition, the Paid Leave For All Workers Act does not impact terms or provisions of collective bargaining agreements in effect on January 1, 2024. This will, in effect, delay implementation of the Act for eligible employees currently covered under a collective bargaining agreement until expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. At the University of Illinois Springfield, this includes all full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty, Extra Help Stagehands and Extra Help Riggers.
Per the Act, eligible employees are entitled to begin using Paid Leave For All Workers Act leave 90 days following the effective date of January 1, 2024. Eligible employees at the University of Illinois Springfield who are not covered under a collective bargaining agreement in effect January 1, 2024, will be able to request/use this time beginning March 31, 2024.
For eligible faculty or staff with a 9-month or 10-month appointment, or less, that are not covered under a collective bargaining agreement, the initial upload of leave time will occur in January of 2024 and will be prorated based on the appointment. The leave time will be available for use starting March 31, 2024.
For all Extra Help employees who are not covered under a collective bargaining agreement, leave time will not be frontloaded but will be accrued at the rate of 1 hour of leave time for 40 hours worked. Units employing Extra Help employees will be responsible for tracking hours worked and leave time accrued. Human Resources will provide additional guidance to unit timekeepers on tracking hours worked and leave time accrued for Extra Help employees. Leave time accrued by Extra Help employees will be available for use starting March 31, 2024.
For all other eligible employees, 40 hours of leave time will be frontloaded in January of 2024 and available for use starting March 31, 2024. Employees must be scheduled to work in order to use this leave. Colleges and units should track these leaves manually until further notice.
Please stay tuned for additional information regarding an FAQs page from our office that will address initial concerns you may have about the Act. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact us at uishr@uis.edu or 217.206.6652.
UIS Office of Human Resources