Will County Gazette

A bill that would give paid leave to vaccinated teachers who need COVID-related time off receives no support from Republicans.

House Democrats have recently advanced HB 1167, which would give COVID-related paid time off to teachers who are vaccinated. On WSPY's Community Forum Program, Rep. David Welter (R-Morris) called the bill unfair.

"That, to me, was a bit egregious - that we are going to start now treating people in different kinds of groups. I didn't think that was fair to those in the education field that, for whatever reason, may not be vaccinated, to monetarily treat them differently than their counterparts who are. I just wasn't on board with that. It's going to pass [the Senate]. So it passed [the House] with mostly - I think all Democrat support. It had bipartisan support when it was for everybody in education. I supported it, I was on board with it then. But when they start singling out people is when they start to lose a lot of bipartisan support," Welter said.

Republican legislators have called the bill unfair and discriminatory, noting it provides a greater benefit to a vaccinated worker than an unvaccinated one even if neither contracts the virus, such as in situations where an unvaccinated teacher's child contracts the virus and that teacher needs to take time off.

The legislation is similar to a bill that passed with bipartisan support last year, but which Gov. Pritzker vetoed because it did not contain a vaccine requirement, according to The News-Gazette.

Pritzker attempted to mandate a vaccine-or-testing requirement for Illinois teachers, but it was struck down by a Sangamon County judge, along with his school mask mandate, NPR reported. Judge Raylene Grischow determined that Pritzker's vaccine mandate constituted a form of "quarantine," which "can only be enforced by the state's Department of Public Health or local health departments, and only after a hearing."