Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) is one of more than 90 House members who supported a change to family and medical leave for educators and hourly workers. | Photo Courtesy of Mark Batinick's website
Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) is one of more than 90 House members who supported a change to family and medical leave for educators and hourly workers. | Photo Courtesy of Mark Batinick's website
Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) voted for a House proposal that would reduce the number of required worked hours for certain employees to be eligible for family and medical leave.
House Bill 12, sponsored by Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard), decreases the required number of hours from 1,250 to 1,000 with Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in public school settings and hourly employees.
“When you take the Family and Medical Leave Act, it’s unpaid, but a teacher who has sick leave can use that for unpaid FMLA,” Batinick said. “They can use that whenever. I support this bill.”
House Bill 12, Educ-Family Leave Eligibility, would provide that school district, public university, or community college district employees who have been in their jobs for at least 12 months and have worked a minimum of 1,000 hours in the previous 12-month period would be eligible for family and medical leave under the same terms and conditions as provided to eligible employees under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
The bill passed the third House reading with 95 members voting in its favor versus 14 who objected.
In general, the current FMLA provides eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave a year.
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