Bill Amendment: IL HB3908 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: FIREFIGHTER MATERNITY LEAVE

Status: 2025-01-07 - Session Sine Die [HB3908 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB3908-Senate_Amendment_001.html

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Sen. Christopher Belt

Filed: 5/10/2024

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3908
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3908 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Firefighter Paid Family Leave Act.
Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Family member" means an employee's child, stepchild,
spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law,
father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent.
"Firefighter" has the meaning set forth in Section 4-106
of the Illinois Pension Code. "Firefighter" includes an
individual eligible to participate in a fund established under
Article 4 of the Illinois Pension Code, an individual who is
not eligible to participate in a fund established under
Article 4 who is employed on a full-time basis as a firefighter
or paramedic, and a firefighter paramedic who is employed by a

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municipality or fire protection district to perform duties as
a paramedic, emergency medical technician (EMT), emergency
medical technician basic (EMT-B), emergency medical
technician-intermediate (EMT-I), or advanced emergency medical
technician (A-EMT).
"Serious health condition" means an illness, impairment,
or physical or mental condition that requires inpatient care
in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility
or continuing medical treatment or continuing supervision by a
health care provider.
Section 10. Paid family leave.
(a) A firefighter shall receive 6 weeks of paid family
leave per calendar year that may be used for the following:
(1) for the birth of a child and to care for a newborn
child;
(2) to care for a newly adopted child under 18 years of
age, a newly placed foster child under 18 years of age, or
a newly adopted or placed foster child older than 18 years
of age if the child is incapable of self-care because of a
mental or physical disability; and
(3) to care for a family member with a serious health
condition.
(b) An employer shall reasonably accommodate additional
physical recovery time for a firefighter returning from leave
used for the purpose described in paragraph (1) of subsection

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(a), including light-duty assignments or an agreed to
reassignment of duties until the firefighter is able to return
to full duties.
(c) The employer shall compensate an employee granted
leave under this Act at the employee's regular rate of pay,
paid at the same interval the employee was paid while working,
for those regular work hours during which the employee is
absent from work.
Section 15. Limitations. The paid family leave
requirements established by this Act shall be provided to a
firefighter who has been employed full-time by an employer for
at least one year, regardless of the employer's leave
policies.
Section 20. Waiver. A firefighter may voluntarily waive
the paid family leave requirement established by this Act by
returning to work before the 6 weeks of leave have elapsed or
by declining, in writing, to accept the paid family leave.
Section 25. Collective bargaining agreements. Unless
otherwise provided in a collective bargaining agreement,
nothing in this Act shall be construed to waive or otherwise
limit an employee's right to final compensation for any type
of leave promised to be paid under a contract of employment.

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Section 30. Prohibited acts.
(a) No employer shall discharge, expel, or otherwise
discriminate a person because the person has filed or
communicated to the employer an intent to file a claim, a
complaint, or an appeal or has testified or is about to testify
or has assisted in any proceeding, under this Act, at any time.
(b) It is unlawful for any employer to threaten to take or
to take any adverse action against an employee because the
employee:
(1) exercises rights or attempts to exercise rights
under this Act;
(2) opposes practices which the employee believes to
be in violation of this Act; or
(3) supports the exercise of rights of another under
this Act.
(c) It is unlawful for any employer to consider the use of
paid leave by an employee as a negative factor in any
employment action that involves evaluating, promoting,
disciplining, or counting paid leave under a no-fault
attendance policy.
Section 35. Employment protection; maintenance of
benefits.
(a) An employee who takes leave under this Act shall be
entitled, on return from the leave, to be restored by the
employer to the position of employment held by the employee

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when the leave commenced, or to be restored to an equivalent
position with equivalent employment benefits, pay, and other
terms and conditions of employment.
(b) An employee who takes leave under this Act shall not
loss any employment benefit accrued by the employee prior to
the date on which the leave commenced.
Section 40. Home rule. A home rule unit may not regulate
the provision of paid family leave to firefighters in a manner
more restrictive than the regulation by the State of the
provision of paid family leave to firefighters under this Act.
This Section is a limitation under subsection (i) of Section 6
of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution on the concurrent
exercise by home rule units of powers and functions exercised
by the State.