Just ahead of a new year’s deadline before a statewide law takes effect, the Cook County Board on Thursday unanimously approved a new paid leave mandate that applies to all suburban municipalities.

The changes replicate and slightly expand on the Jan. 1 state law, which will require most employers to provide up to 40 hours of paid leave per year. Statewide, time off will be accrued one hour at a time for every 40 hours worked, or employers could front-load that time off. Those standards would be enshrined at Cook County businesses starting in 2024 whether or not the County Board took any action.

The county rules go a bit further, however. All workers — except for state and federal employees, students working for their college, and short-term employees of colleges and universities for less than one consecutive calendar quarter — would be covered. Airlines would also be included, as would employees of local governments not subject to a union contract. It also allows workers to take their bosses to court for violations, a process known as the private right of action.

In a release, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office celebrated its passage and pointed out the change “represents a significant shift” from the county’s current earned sick leave ordinance, which “outlined conditions during which earned sick leave could be used (e.g., when you or a family member are ill, receiving medical care, etc.). Paid leave, by contrast, can be used for any reason, providing more flexibility to employees in Cook County to take time off.”

Suburban municipalities could opt out, but would still be subject to the state law. The county mandate takes effect Dec. 31, and enforcement begins Feb. 1.

“I think we just want to make sure that there’s additional protections, including the private right of action, and including the airline workers,” Commissioner Alma Anaya, the sponsor of the change, told the Tribune on Wednesday. “We want to just make sure that we’re not going backwards.”

The ordinance was supported by the Chicago Federation of Labor, whose political director, Izzy Dobbel, told commissioners Thursday the mandate would be a win for workers and employers, giving workers much-needed time off for rest or family matters, and would help bosses with retention efforts. The CFL supported similar — but wider-reaching — paid leave expansion at the city, which they argued would lift the floor in labor negotiations across the city.

Unlike the contentious debate over Chicago’s paid leave policy, which led to a notable split between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the business community, the county ordinance passed with relatively tame debate.

Some suburban commissioners fretted about a lack of outreach to municipalities and how violators — including mom and pop businesses — would be held accountable.

Commissioner Sean Morrison, the board’s lone Republican, said a lack of clarity about how violations would be enforced — and whether bosses can fix their mistakes to avoid fees or fines — made it hard for him to support the change. He voted yes anyway.

“It’s state law, so let’s be practical: It’s a moot point, we’re just piggybacking,” he said.

“We owe it to the private sector industry, to a limited extent, that we don’t pass things that are harmful and burdensome,” Morrison said. But his concerns about overreach were assuaged by assurances the board would have the power to establish the rules enforcing the new edict.

Enforcement would be carried out by the county’s Department of Human Rights and Ethics, which could fine employers for violations. Unlike the state’s law, the county’s measure allows employees to sue for violations, with the potential to could recover up to three times the amount of unpaid leave denied or lost by a violation.

But Jennifer King, the interim executive director of the department, said “our intention is not to penalize” someone who made “an honest mistake.” The hope is to ensure compliance so “both parties come to some sort of resolution,” King said.

Anaya said she and co-sponsor Anthony Quezada worked to beef up staffing in Human Rights and Ethics in next year’s budget “to make sure that we’re doing the outreach necessary, not only for this one but for all other protections” like tenant and landlord rights. But to also ensure there was muscle behind the paid leave rules.

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