Effective January 1, 2024, DACC shall provide “Paid Leave for All Workers” (herein referred to as “PLAW”) in the manner set forth below, consistent with the Paid Leave for All Workers Act (the “Act”) (820 ILCS 192/1 et seq.). All employees are entitled to paid leave consistent with the Act and this Policy, with the exception of the DACC Classified Staff Association and the DACC Education Association, which employees shall be exempt until such time the respective collective bargaining agreements are renegotiated following the effective date of the Act. Student workers are specifically exempted from the Act and are not entitled to leave under this Policy. Short-term employees, i.e., those employees employed for less than two (2) consecutive calendar quarters and who do not have a reasonable expectation of being rehired, are also exempted from the Act and not entitled to leave under this Policy.

Paid leave shall accrue at a rate of one (1) hour of leave for every forty (40) hours worked. The accrual period shall begin on January 1, 2024. Current employees shall be entitled to begin using paid leave ninety (90) days following the effective date of the Act, or on April 1, 2024. New employees shall be entitled to begin using paid leave ninety (90) days following the commencement of their employment.

For part-time employees paid on an hourly basis, such employees shall accrue .025 hours of leave for every one (1) hour worked.

For part-time faculty teaching classes on a credit-hour basis, the IRS multiplier of 2.25 shall be used for each hour of teaching. For example, a part-time faculty member teaching one 3-credit hour course in a semester would receive 2.7 hours of paid leave for the semester. (3-credit hours x 2.25 = $6.75 hours of work/week. 6.75 hours x 16 weeks in a semester = 108 semester hours/40 = 2.7 hours of paid leave for the semester.)

For all full-time Administrative and Professional Personnel, and Classified Staff, on 12-month contracts and receiving vacation under Policies 4056 and 4057, respectively, up to 40 hours of accrued vacation under those Policies shall be treated as PLAW leave and may be used by the employee for any reason. These employees shall not receive any additional PLAW leave under this Section, and any PLAW leave taken by the employee shall be used as set forth in the next paragraph, below. Employees choosing to use PLAW leave must designate it as such when using the Request for Leave/Report of Absence form in order for DACC to properly record use of the same. Policies 4056 and 4057 will be updated accordingly, and this change in no way impacts the amount of accumulated vacation leave that an employee currently has or may accrue under those Policies.

Employees may use the paid leave for any reason and must provide seven (7) days’ notice of the upcoming absence using a Request for Leave/Report of Absence form. If the absence is not foreseeable, notice shall be provided as soon as practical. Employees must provide notice to their supervisor. Employees must take paid leave in increments of two (2) hours or longer. Employees are encouraged to not take leave on the day before or the day after a scheduled College break. Upon separation from employment for any reason, unused paid leave is forfeited and not subject to payout.

To the extent an employee does not utilize the paid leave accrued during the 12-month period, such leave shall carry over annually; however, no employee is entitled to utilize more than 40 hours of paid leave under this policy during any 12-month period.