SUPPORT PAID SICK DAYS

September 16th, 2008

Too many workers can’t afford to take time off to handle their own illness, that of a family member, or to care for a new child. Kids and families suffer when they don’t get the medical care and attention they need. Business productivity suffers too.

- At some point, everyone will need time off from work for a health-related reason. However, employers in Illinois are not required to provide any paid time off. 
- Working families need the support paid leave would provide; 77 percent of the lowest-wage workers have no paid sick leave at all.

The proposed Healthy Workplace Act (HB 5320) will:

- Allow employees to earn up to 7 paid sick days per year, accrued hourly for every 30 hours worked.
- Provide leave: 1) for an employee’s own illness; 2) to care for the illness of an employee’s family member; or 3) for medical appointments.
- Require employers who do not already provide at least 7 paid sick days to pay for this standard employment benefit when needed by their workers.

The ADA-AA significantly changes the current law by:
- explicitly removing the Supreme Court's requirement in Sutton that mitigating measures be considered when evaluating whether an individual has a disability within the meaning of the ADA;
- including language in the findings and purposes section to clarify that the courts' previous interpretations of the term "substantially limits" [in the phrase "substantially limits a major life activity"] were too restrictive;
- defining "major life activity" to include "operation of a major bodily function" such as the neurological, circulatory, and reproductive systems (the provision contains a non-exhaustive list);
- eliminating the requirement that an individual asserting a "regarded as" claim show that s/he has an impairment that substantially limits a major life activity;
- clarifying that an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active;