advocacy groups push for expansive paid family, medical leave in Illinois

By HannaH meIsel capitol news Illinois

A coalition of advocacy and labor groups is pushing for a state law to give Illinois workers 26 weeks of paid leave if they need to recover from an illness, domestic or sexual violence, or take care of a sick family member or new child.

The same groups just celebrated a legislative victory last month with the passage of five days of paid leave – negotiations that took four years but were ultimately agreed to by the state’s most influential business groups and even garnered some Republican votes.

After a quick rebrand to the Illinois Time To Care Coalition, advocates are pushing for a more ambitious leave policy, which would make Illinois the 12th state with mandatory paid family and medical leave. The United States is the only industrialized nation without a national paid parental leave law, while dozens of developing countries also have such policies.

“No one should have to choose a paycheck over their health and the health of their family,” said Wendy Pollack, Women’s Law and Policy Initiative director at the Chicago-based Shriver Center on Poverty Law.

The coalition’s initial proposal – encapsulated in Senate Bill 1234 and House Bill 1530 – would cover all employers in Illinois and all employees who earn at least $1,600 annually. Paid leave would also apply to contract workers.

The benefits to workers would be paid out of a newly created special state fund. The law would require employers to pay 0.73 percent of the wages for their employees and contractors into the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Fund, similar to the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. An additional fee of up to 0.05 percent could be imposed through administrative rules for administering the program.

Those who need paid leave would need to provide documentation of pregnancy, adoption or guardianship of a new child, their own injury or illness, or that of a sick family member. The leave policy would also cover militaryrelated time off and time needed to recover from sexual assault or domestic violence.

Those workers, if approved for leave, would receive 90 percent of their average weekly wages for their leave period, up to a maximum of $1,200 per week. Eventually that maximum would be adjusted to 90 percent of the average weekly wage in Illinois.

Those potential payouts are in line with the policies of the 11 other states with paid leave laws, although no other state’s law is quite as permissive as the proposal being pushed in Illinois. For example, although Massachusetts allows for up to 26 weeks of total paid leave in one year, it provides for only 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents and those caring for a sick family member, and 20 weeks for those who can’t work due to a long-term illness.

But advocates pushing for paid leave in Illinois are aiming for loftier goals than the programs in other states.

Christina Green, who now works for Chicago-based advocacy organization Women Employed, was only eligible for two weeks of leave when she gave birth to her son in 2020. She would only have had access to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave at the private school she worked at if she had been employed for seven or more years.

Instead of returning to work after those two weeks, Green said she drained her savings in order to take the 12 weeks she anticipated needing. And even then, Green said it wasn’t enough.

“It actually took me around 20 weeks to fully heal,” Green said. “Unfortunately I had no other options but to return to work…I literally budgeted down to the last dollar.”

Angelica Arreguin, a single mom and temp agency worker who organizes with the Chicago Workers Collaborative, shared through an interpreter that she was fired by her former employer when she couldn’t return to her job because her “injury did not heal on their schedule.”

“And if there comes a day that my children become ill and I need to leave work for a month, I expect to be fired instead of being allowed to return,” Arreguin said.

Advocates say paid parental leave would help ease the racial inequities suffered by women like Arreguin and Green, who is Black. The advocacy groups behind the proposal point to a permanent decrease in earnings for women who take time off to care for children or aging parents – an issue set to become more prominent as Baby Boomers age into needing more medical care over the next decade or so.

The coalition is also selling paid leave as a boon for businesses, es- pecially in a labor market where many employers have found it difficult to find or re-hire workers in the wake of COVID-19.

House sponsor state Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, said lack of a safety net is preventing many women from re-entering the workforce.

“If women in Illinois participated in the labor force at the same rate as women in countries with paid leave, there would be an estimated 124,000 additional workers in the state and 4.4 billion more wages,” she said.

But business groups aren’t engaging with the proposal yet. Rob Karr, President and CEO of the influential Illinois Retail Merchants Association, turned the focus back to last month’s legislative agreement on five days of paid leave.

“Our focus is on the proper implementation of the historic paid leave bill that just passed the General Assembly and has yet to even be signed into law by the governor,” Karr said in a statement.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 12TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS AMERIHOME MORTGAGE COMPANY, LLC

Plaintiff, -v.-

UNKNOWN HEIRS AND LEGATEES OF RICHARD BUSH et al

Defendant 2022 FC 000246

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on November 23, 2022, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 1:00 PM on March 1, 2023, at the Attorneys Title Guaranty, 2742 Caton Farm Road, JOLIET, IL, 60435, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 114 COGHILL ST, JOLIET, IL 60435 Property Index No. 06-03-25-412-0015-0000 The real estate is improved with a residence. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/115.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.

You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales. For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-91576

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION

One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE

You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100

BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300

E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com

Attorney File No. 14-22-01757

Attorney ARDC No. 004615002

Case Number: 2022 FC 000246

TJSC#: 42-4354

NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 2022 FC 000246

I3211721

Published 1/25/23, 2/1/23, 2/15/23