Another school year has started, and some Illinois employers may need to provide parents and guardians with leave time for school conferences.
The law: School Visitation Rights Act. (Source: P.A. 87-1240.) click here to read the entire law.
Applies to:
- Illinois employers with 50 or more eligible employees
- Eligible employees:
- parent or legal guardian of a child enrolled in a public or private primary or secondary school located in Illinois.
- those who have worked for the company for at least six (6) consecutive months.
- those who have worked, on average, hours equal to or greater than one-half of a full-time position during the six-month period.
Leave parameters:
- Up to eight hours of unpaid leave per school year, but no more than four hours on any day, to attend school conferences, behavioral meetings, or academic meetings if the conferences or meetings cannot be scheduled during non-work hours.
- Eligible employees must use up other leave except sick leave and disability leave before taking the school conference and activity leave.
- Employees should provide the employer with a written request for leave at least seven (7) days in advance of the time the employee is required to utilize the visitation right.
- In emergency situations, no more than 24 hours notice may be required.
- The employee must consult with the employer to schedule the leave so as not to disrupt unduly the operations of the employer.
- The employee must submit verification from the school within two working days of the visit.
- The employee may choose to make up the time missed if a reasonable opportunity exists to do so in a manner that would not require the payment of overtime.
- An employer is not required to grant this leave if doing so would result in more than 5% of the workforce taking school leave at the same time.
For additional information about the information contained in this post or assistance with any questions about your business, the attorneys at B&D are ready to help you. Reach out to us.
