Section 600.674  Sick Leave

a)         Accrual:  Full-time employees shall earn sick leave at the rate of one (1) day for each month's service.  Employees who work less than nineteen (19) hours per week do not earn sick leave.  Permanent part-time employees shall earn sick leave on a prorated basis determined by a fraction the numerator of which shall be the hours worked by the employee and the denominator of which shall be normal working hours in the year required by the position.  No employee shall accrue sick leave while remaining on the payroll to collect accrued vacation prior to the effective date of his or her termination.

b)         Use:  Sick leave may be used in one-half (½) hour increments for illness, disability, or injury of the employee, appointments with doctors, dentists, or other professional medical practitioners, and also may be used in the event of serious illness, disability, injury or death of an immediate family member of the employee. Documentation to substantiate that leave days were used for the purposes stated may be required.  Beginning with calendar year 2005, in the event an employee does not use sick leave in any calendar year, the employee shall be awarded one (1) additional personal day on January 1 of the next calendar year.  A permanent part-time employee who works at least 19 hours per week shall be awarded pro-rated additional personal leave on January 1 when the employee has not used sick leave during the previous calendar year.  A calendar year for purposes of this provision is the period beginning January 1 and ending December 31 of each year.  Any additional personal leave shall be used in accordance with Section 600.682 of this Part.

c)         Accumulation:  Employees shall be allowed to carry over any unused sick leave allowed under subsection (a), above, from year to year of continuous service.

d)         Payment in Lieu of Sick Leave:

1)         Upon termination of employment for any reason, or upon indeterminate layoff, an employee or the employee's estate is entitled to be paid for unused sick leave which has accrued on or after January 1, 1984 and prior to January 1, 1998, provided the employee is not employed in another position in State service within four (4) calendar days of his or her termination.

2)         For purposes of this subsection (d), sick leave is deemed to be used by an employee within the following priority order:

A)        Sick leave earned through December 31, 1983.

B)        Sick leave earned on or after January 1, 1998.

C)        Sick leave earned on or after January 1, 1984 and prior to January 1, 1998.

The first earned sick leave shall be the first utilized within each category.

3)         In order to determine the amount of sick leave to be paid upon termination of employment, the Office will:

A)        compute the number of sick leave days granted to the employee between January 1, 1984 and December 31, 1997;

B)        compute the employee's sick leave balance for that time period at time of termination; and

C)        cause lump sum payment to be made for one half of the amount of sick leave in subsection (d)(3)(A) or (B) above, whichever is the lesser amount, multiplied by the daily salary rate.

4)         An employee who is reemployed, reinstated, or recalled from indeterminate layoff and who received lump sum payment in lieu of unused sick days will have those days restored provided the employee repays upon return to active employment the gross amount paid by the State for the number of days to be so restored to the employee's sick leave account.

5)         The payment proved by this subsection (d) shall not be allowed if the purpose of the separation from employment and any subsequent reemployment is for the purpose of obtaining the payment.

6)         The accrued leave amount shall be certified in writing to the employee by the Office.  This certification may be held by the employee or forwarded to the Retirement System.

(Source:  Amended at 33 Ill. Reg. 1704, effective March 10, 2009)