Illinois considers bill that would give firefighters paid family leave – The Pantagraph

SPRINGFIELD — Firefighters in Illinois may soon be able to receive six weeks of paid family leave. 

House Bill 3908, sponsored by state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, would allow firefighters to take time off to care for a family member with a serious health condition, or for the birth of a child and caring for the newborn.

They would also be able to use the time to care for a newly-adopted child under 18, a newly-placed foster child under 18, or for a newly-adopted or placed foster child older than 18 if they are unable to care for themselves due to a mental or physical disability.

Firefighters would also have the option to voluntarily waive their right to paid family leave. 

Employers would have to reasonably accommodate extra physical recovery time for firefighters returning from leave, including light-duty assignments or an agreement of reassigned duties until the firefighter can go back to their full duties.

The bill mandates that these paid family leave requirements be provided to firefighters regardless of their employer’s leave policies. These requirements would have to be provided to firefighters who have been employed for at least one year.

The bill is an initiative of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, the union that represents the state’s firefighters. Stuart said they brought this issue to her attention because fire departments across the state are trying to bring more women into the profession. The hope is that it would make the historically male-dominated profession more inclusive by accounting for child-bearing and other responsibilities often carried by women. 

“We want to make sure everybody can build their family and have the appropriate time that they need to adapt to those changes, so supporting everybody who has those kind of life-changing things (and) making sure they can take care of their family just goes along with that,” she continued. 

The Senate sponsor, Sen. Christopher Belt, D-East St. Louis, added that after talking with AFFI and firefighters across Illinois, he quickly realized that these firefighters only had the federal Family and Medical Leave Act to rely on.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, this act provides for eligible employees “to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.”

“I really don’t think that’s right for those firefighters (and) I don’t think it’s right for those paramedics or those EMT people, because they give so much of themselves,” Belt said. 

AFFI declined to comment and said it would be premature since the bill is early on in the process. 

If the bill passes, Stuart said details of how this would work on a local level will be done through negotiations and collective bargaining agreements between municipalities and the firefighter unions. 

The Illinois Municipal League, a lobbying group that advocates on behalf of the state’s cities and towns, opposes the bill, deeming it an unfunded mandate on municipalities and preemption of local government decision-making.

Stuart said other concerns were brought up during the House committee hearing regarding scenarios where employees could abuse the policy. For example, someone could try to stagger out adopting or fostering children in a way to take off as much time as possible.

“(It) just seems so far out of the realm, and again, our collective bargaining agreements can speak to those specific issues,” Stuart said. “I think these are really important policies. The fact that a couple people will take advantage of it, I don’t think is a really good reason to not put forth this legislation that’s really important for everyone else.”

Despite the opposition, Stuart and Belt believe the bill would alleviate some of the burdens associated with caring for family members and provide the support and resources firefighters may need. Both said they believe this is just the start of trying to provide all employees this kind of coverage. 

“I think (this bill is) just reaffirming that in the state of Illinois, we care about families,” Stuart said. “We want to support families and that we put their needs first. I think it’s a signal and it’s a start of a pretty high ladder that we have to climb to where everybody has this coverage, but at least we’ve made this piece start.”