Northbrook Board Poised To Adopt County Earned Sick Leave Rules

NORTHBROOK, IL — After more than a year of campaigning by local labor activists, a majority of the Northbrook Board of Trustees appears ready to reverse last year’s decision to exempt local businesses from a county ordinance requiring them to provide most workers with paid sick leave. By voting in favor of a symbolic motion asking village staff to prepare a resolution for their next meeting, three members of the board who previously rejected the regulation suggested they would be ready to adopt the Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance.

In May 2017, the board voted 5-2 to opt out of the sick leave requirement and 6-1 to opt out of county’s minimum wage requirement, which took effect last July. The village joined dozens of other Cook County municipalities that exercised their home rule authority to avoid the requirement that most workers be allowed to take a sick day without losing pay. The moves were supported by local chambers of commerce, but they were resisted by a persistent group of residents. Ever since the opt out vote, red T-shirt-clad members of the Northbrook Working Families Coalition have been showing up to village board meetings to encourage trustees to reconsider.

That reconsideration will come Oct. 2, as trustees voted 5-1 at their Sept. 25 meeting on a motion to ask its attorneys to draw up a resolution to repeal last year’s opt-out ordinance. Trustees Muriel Collison, Jason Han, James Karagianis, Robert Israel and Village President Sandy Frum voted to support drafting an “opt-in” resolution. Trustee A.C. Buehler voted against it. Trustee Kathryn Ciesla was absent. Trustees Han and Collison were the only members of the board to vote against opting out of the county sick leave ordinance last year, while Han was the sole vote in favor of a higher minimum wage in Northbrook.

“My thoughts on the ordinance haven’t changed since last time,” Han said. “I supported it then and I support it now.”

Collison said she found it “unconscionable,” as a working mother and a small business owner, to make workers chose between caring for a sick loved one and potentially getting fired.

“After the last time this matter was before us, I was approached by several workers who work in Northbrook and was shocked to learn that here in Northbrook there are full-time workers who are not only given no sick time, no absent days but who are fired if they miss more than three days for any reason in the course of a year,” Collison said. “That was astounding to me.”

Pointing to her own experience providing earned sick leave to her salaried employees at her Chicago-based personal injury law firm, she said adapting to the Cook County rules was quite simple.

“It’s not overburdensome, it’s not an accounting nightmare,” she said. And despite the possible hit to the bottom line, Collison said there was also value to have workers feel as if they are themselves valued. Feedback from residents, “with the exception of a few emails” had been overwhelming supportive of providing sick leave, with many emphasizing they would not want employees working around food, children or the elderly to be compelled to come in to work during an illness or risk losing a day’s pay or potentially their jobs.

Trustee Buehler said he felt adopting the sick leave ordinance was a slippery slope.

“I’m going to continue to oppose this. I looked at it. I tried to see the benefit, but I tried to also weigh that against the issue of what’s also fair,” he said, pointing to last year’s recommendation from the village’s commission of business owners to reject the county rules.

“It’s a dangerous precedent for the village to set, as far as regulating certain types of employee activities within businesses. It’s something we haven’t done before and I’m not ready to go down that path,” said Buehler, the lone member of the board to vote against drawing up an “opt-in” draft resolution. He said it was the job of the state and federal governments, rather than county or village boards, to set labor laws.

Trustee Karagianis said he had changed his view on the earned sick leave ordinance after his concerns over its applicability to seasonal workers.

“It seemed very, very general,” he said. “It just seemed like it just applied to everybody. But having studied it now and talking to our village attorney, that portion of it doesn’t disturb me at all.” Although the General Assembly should be taking the lead on the issue, he said, it has not, and workers have no control over whether or not they get sick.

“The level of the ordinance is so basic I don’t consider it as onerous,” Karagianis said.

In Northbrook, Glenview, Lake County and about 100 other Cook County suburbs, the minimum wage is the state-mandated $8.25 an hour. In the neighboring North Shore towns of Glencoe, Northfield and Winnetka, the minimum wage is $11 and will continue rising by $1 a year for two more years. After reaching $13, it will be pegged to inflation. Wilmette trustees voted in June to reverse its decision to opt out of the wage requirement, with some conditions, effective next month.

Northbrook Working Families Coalition representative Melissa Dane said the group was excited about the board's decision.

"We are appreciative of their willingness to revisit the important issue of earned sick leave benefits. It is gratifying to see leaders in your community listen to residents, reconsider their positions, and ultimately change their minds," Dane told Patch. "This is a win for Northbrook, public health, and workers."

President Frum said after the meeting she had concerns last year about how the paid sick leave mandate might affect local businesses, especially seasonal workers at nonprofits like the YMCA. But more than a year after going into effect, her view has changed.

"In the communities and the rest of Cook County where it has been the law of the county, no issues have been raised concerning implementation," she said.

State law does not mandate employers provide any paid or unpaid time off or sick leave, although the Family and Medical Leave Act and other federal laws are applicable. Cook County’s sick leave ordinance exempts public sector employees, certain employees covered by collective bargaining and independent contractors, according to a summary provided by village staff. It allows workers to earn a maximum of 40 hours of sick leave over the course of a year at a rate of 1 hour of sick leave per 40 hours worked.

While the ordinance technically applies to seasonal workers, Village Attorney Steve Elrod pointed out employers, with notice, can block workers from using any sick time they earn in the first 180 days of employment – effectively an exemption for those working less than six months.

Trustee Israel read from a letter from a resident and small business owner, saying it summed up his thoughts more articulately than he was able. Offering sick leave benefits is “not always easy but it is the right thing to do,” wrote Karolyn Raphael, the president of a local public relations firm.

“Providing employees maternity leave, paid sick leave and holiday pay demonstrate respect and trust," said Israel, reading the letter. "This is something we need to model for our children and communities."

Related:

• No Minimum Wage Increase Or Mandatory Sick Leave Coming To Northbrook
• Wilmette Adopts Higher Minimum Wage, Reversing Last Year's Vote
• Western Springs Opts In To Cook County Minimum Wage Ordinance