Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance

Chicago’s Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance gives almost every worker in the city two separate pools of paid time off: up to 40 hours a year of general paid leave usable for any reason, and up to 40 hours a year of paid sick and safe leave for illness, caregiving, or safety-related needs. The ordinance took effect on July 1, 2024, and is codified at Chapter 6-130 of the Municipal Code. It covers full-time, part-time, and temporary workers alike.

Who the Ordinance Covers

The eligibility bar is deliberately low. You become a covered employee once you perform at least two hours of work while physically present in Chicago for your employer during any two-week period.¹ That two-hour threshold is a one-time test. Once you clear it, you stay covered for the rest of your time with that employer, even if your hours later drop.²

If you live outside Chicago but get assigned to work in the city, you’re covered only for the hours you’re physically present within city limits. Domestic workers are covered regardless of employer size, so a household with a single nanny or caregiver still owes leave.²

How the Two Leave Pools Accrue

For every 35 hours you work, you earn one hour of general paid leave and one hour of paid sick leave.¹ Accrual starts on your first calendar day of employment. Your employer can cap each bucket at 40 hours per 12-month benefit period, which means up to 80 total hours of paid time off in a year.²

Instead of tracking accrual hour by hour, an employer can frontload the full 40 hours of either category, or both, at the start of employment or at the start of each benefit period. If your employer frontloads your general paid leave, it does not have to let you carry over unused hours.³

Accrual and use are two different things. Your hours start counting on day one, but your employer can set a waiting period before you actually tap into them. The maximum wait is 90 days for general paid leave and 30 days for paid sick leave.¹ Hours keep building during that window; you just can’t use them yet.

What You Can Use Each Type For

General paid leave is the no-questions-asked bucket. Vacation, a personal errand, a mental health day, or no stated reason at all. Your employer cannot ask why and cannot require documentation.²

Paid sick leave covers your own illness or injury, preventive medical care, and medical appointments, plus time spent caring for a family member with a health condition. The ordinance defines “family member” broadly, reaching children, parents, spouses, domestic partners, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, legal guardians, and anyone whose close relationship with you is equivalent to a family bond.²⁴

The “safe” side of paid sick and safe leave covers situations involving domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. You can use the time to seek legal help, attend court, relocate to a safe living situation, or recover from what happened. A family member’s situation also qualifies.

Requesting Leave and What Documentation You Owe

When you know the leave is coming, your employer can require up to seven days’ advance notice.² When it’s unexpected, notify as soon as reasonably possible. Follow whatever internal channel your workplace uses, whether that’s a portal, a call-in line, or a manager notification.

Documentation rules are limited. For general paid leave, no documentation can be required at all. For paid sick leave, your employer can ask for reasonable documentation only if you’re absent more than three consecutive workdays, and any documentation should confirm the leave was for a covered purpose without disclosing a diagnosis.¹ For safe leave, a police report, court order, or similar document can serve the same purpose.

Carrying Unused Leave Into the Next Year

The two pools carry over differently, and the gap is large. For general paid leave, up to 16 hours can roll into the next benefit year, and no carryover is required at all if your employer frontloaded the hours.⁵

For paid sick leave, up to 80 hours can roll over. This lets you build a real cushion for an extended illness or a family health crisis. Because carried-over hours sit on top of what you accrue in the new benefit period, your available sick leave balance at any moment can go well above 40 hours.⁵

What You Get Paid Out When You Leave

Whether unused general paid leave gets cashed out when your job ends depends on how many covered employees your employer has:

Small employers with 1 to 50 covered employees owe no payout of unused general paid leave.
Medium employers with 51 to 100 covered employees have phased-in payout obligations that started with a 16-hour cap during initial implementation and have since increased.
Large employers with more than 100 covered employees must pay out all accrued, unused general paid leave at your regular rate in your final paycheck.

Unused paid sick and safe leave is never paid out at separation, no matter the employer’s size.¹

If your workplace is sold or transferred, the new owner must honor your accrued balances if you continue working in Chicago. Both the original and successor employer can face liability if that doesn’t happen.

Retaliation Is Prohibited

Your employer cannot fire you, deny you a promotion, change your schedule punitively, downgrade your assignments, or give you a negative evaluation because you used leave you had earned. The same protection covers workers who report violations or cooperate with an investigation.⁶ Any employment contract or handbook provision that tries to make you waive these rights is void.⁷

Filing a Complaint or Lawsuit

If your employer denies leave you’ve earned, retaliates against you, or otherwise violates the ordinance, you can file a complaint with the Chicago Office of Labor Standards (OLS), a division of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. Complaints can be filed in person at the OLS office, by calling 311, through the CHI 311 mobile app, or by mailing or emailing a downloaded complaint form. All OLS services are free.⁸

You generally have three years from the date of the violation to file. OLS notifies the employer, requests records, and can issue subpoenas. Investigations typically look at the whole workforce, not just your individual situation, and the office aims to resolve cases in 6 to 12 months. Many end in a settlement where the employer corrects the problem and pays what’s owed.⁸

You can also sue on your own. If you win, the court can award you triple the value of the leave you were denied, plus interest, court costs, and attorney’s fees. The private right to sue over paid sick leave violations has existed since July 1, 2024. The right to sue over general paid leave violations became available on July 1, 2025. Through June 30, 2026, an employee suing over paid leave violations must wait until the next regular payday or 16 days after the violation, whichever comes first, before filing suit. That waiting requirement sunsets on July 1, 2026.⁹

How the Ordinance Fits With State Law and Union Contracts

Illinois has its own Paid Leave for All Workers Act that took effect on January 1, 2024, but the state law exempts employers already subject to a local paid leave ordinance in place by that date. Chicago’s ordinance qualifies, so state law does not apply to Chicago employers or employees. The city ordinance is your framework.¹⁰

Construction workers covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement are fully exempt from the ordinance. For every other industry, collective bargaining agreements already in force on July 1, 2024, are honored until they expire, and any new or renewed agreement can only waive the ordinance’s protections if the waiver is written in clear, unambiguous terms in the agreement itself.⁷

1
American Legal Publishing. Municipal Code of Chicago – Chapter 6-130 Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance
2
City of Chicago. BACP-OLS Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave Rules
3
American Legal Publishing. Municipal Code of Chicago 6-130-030 – Paid Sick Leave and Paid Leave
4
City of Chicago. Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Model Policy
5
City of Chicago. Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Rules (2026)
6
American Legal Publishing. Municipal Code of Chicago – 6-100-030 Retaliation Prohibited
7
American Legal Publishing. Municipal Code of Chicago 6-130-040 – Application to Collective Bargaining Agreements
8
City of Chicago. Chicago Office of Labor Standards Worker Guide to Investigations
9
American Legal Publishing. Municipal Code of Chicago 6-130-100 – Private Cause of Action
10
Illinois Department of Labor. Paid Leave for All Workers Act FAQ