NW Illinois News

Illinois House Republican Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) is concerned about the negative impact the passage of the Paid Leave for All Workers Act will have on small businesses.

McCombie, who's served in the state House of Representatives since 2017, posted her thoughts in a Feb. 9 Facebook post.

"We all want a great working environment with an equitable work-life balance, however, SB208 fails to address the concerns of those providing that work environment," McCombie wrote in the post. "This mandated benefit expansion comes at a high cost to those who are taking risks to create jobs in an already unfriendly business climate. SB208 could have a detrimental affect on small employers, especially those businesses that are not-for-profit, have less than 20 employees or who only have a part-time staff. While seemingly a caring benefit expansion, many will be adversely impacted at the very time we need to grow our tax base to accommodate the federal pandemic relief funds ending.”

The Paid Leave for All Workers Act, or Senate Bill 208, will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024. It requires employers to provide 40 hours of paid leave during a year period for workers in Illinois. It would also require businesses to roll over 40 hours of unused sick time, and employees would be able to use that time for any reason. 

In her Facebook post, McCombie shared a link to a Center Square article that looked at the downside of additional leave benefits. The Center Square spoke with Chris Davis, the Illinois state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, who said, “It's really disheartening that the General Assembly would even consider proposing additional leave benefits after they just passed mandated paid leave a little more than a month ago. Not only pay an employee while they’re out not working for a business, but in addition, potentially have to pay an employee temporarily to fill in that gap."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statement after the bill's passage on Jan. 11.

"Every working Illinoisan knows that sometimes unavoidable circumstances prevent you from doing your job. However, for too long we have refused to accept this inevitability and penalized workers for dealing with family emergencies, broken down cars or any of the other life complications we all face. Now, I'm proud to say that the General Assembly has recognized that struggle and passed a bill guaranteeing five days of paid leave for all employees in our state," he said.

The National Law Review pointed out that the law does not apply to "most Chicago employers or to other employers whose municipality or county has an existing paid sick leave law." The National Law Review also noted that employees do not have to give a reason for use of this time, as long as they use the normal processes to request the leave.