Rep. Deanne Mazzochi | File photo
Rep. Deanne Mazzochi | File photo
Illinois’ Family and Medical Leave Act could soon be open to more part-time education workers.
A bill that would allow part-time employees to join is now headed to the House floor for a full vote.
Currently, only school district, university or community college employees that have worked at least 12 years and 1,250 hours annually are eligible for the program.
As sponsor of the bill, Rep. Terra Costa Howard argues that’s too much to put on many part-time teachers.
“For a school employee, this is an extremely difficult number to obtain since many of our school employees, that is, our hourly employees in particular, are only able to work approximately 9 months out of the year,” she said.
The bill proposed by Howard seeks to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act to include employees who have worked at least 12 months and at least 1,000 hours annually.
Critics contend it’s just the latest unfunded mandate put forth by state officials.
“This is another unfunded mandate,” said Rep. Deanne Mazzochi. “What’s going to wind up happening? The people who maybe were counting on having those 1,200 hours are going to get cut to below 1,000 hours."
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