Most full-time workers in Illinois already get paid sick days through their jobs, but soon Illinois could require that all workers get paid time off.
The Illinois Senate last week approved a plan to require a week’s worth of sick days for everyone. State Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D- Olympia Fields, said some workers need the state to step in.
“We have a workforce for whom there are millions of people who do not have access to [family leave], who do not have access to a nice office job where they throw them a baby shower when they’re ready to have a baby,” Hutchinson said. “We have people who string together hourly jobs all the time. We’re talking about millions of people who have no access to a day off.”
But opponents, like state Sen. Dale Righter, a Mattoon Republican, said the sick days aren’t just for being sick.
“There’s a provision in the plan that would allow the employee to take paid sick time in order to go to their own sentencing hearing after they’ve been convicted of, or plead guilty to a crime,” Righter said on the floor of the Illinois Senate.
The proposal passed with only Democratic votes. It now heads to the Illinois House.