The Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act (PLFAW Act) provides 40 hours of paid leave per year, frontloaded or accrued, for any purpose. That has some employers worried that the law is ripe for leave abuse. Written policies can help address these concerns.

Employers’ most-often-repeated concern is the breadth of employees’ right to take PLFAW Act leave at any time, for any reason, potentially without any advance notice, and without ramification, said Jennifer Long, an attorney with Duane Morris in Chicago.

Frontloading or Accrual of Leave

“Employers may want to consider annual frontloading of a separate bank of 40 hours—prorated for part-time employees—that is designated as PLFAW-compliant leave,” Long said. The annual period may be any 12-month period—such as a calendar, fiscal or anniversary year—that’s communicated to employees in advance. For the initial effective date of the act, current employees had to be provided frontloaded time, or begin accruing at a rate of 1 hour per 40 hours of work, on Jan. 1, although they may not be entitled to use such time until March 31, Long said. Employees must be employed at least 90 days before they are entitled to use paid leave under the law.

Employers providing a frontloaded bank can consider including provisions that prohibit carryover of unused time from year to year and payout at termination, she added.

“All employers—whether using a frontloaded or accrual basis for granting time—can include reasonable notification...

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