Brookfield has opted out of a new county ordinance that officials said could have led to staffing shortages in its parks and other departments.
That county ordinance requires all employers with employees in Cook County, including municipalities such as Brookfield, to provide their employees with at least one hour of paid leave per 40 hours worked, with a minimum of five days per year. This includes part-time and seasonal employees. Employers are not allowed to deny employees paid leave under the county ordinance unless they establish a clear paid leave policy and communicate it to their workers. Enforcement begins Thursday, Feb. 1.
However, Brookfield opted out of it under a provision that permits entities to do so because it conflicts with a preexisting village ordinance codifying full-time village employees’ right to five days of paid leave per year. Under Illinois law, Brookfield’s paid leave ordinance is permitted to override Cook County’s within the village’s borders.
The board passed that paid leave ordinance last month at its Dec. 11 meeting as a way to exclude Brookfield from Illinois’ Paid Leave for All Workers Act, which went into effect on Jan. 1. The act’s wording specifies that it does not apply to employers that were already covered by municipal or county ordinances when it went into effect. Cook County aligned its stance on paid leave with the new statewide rules under PLAWA.
Brookfield does not offer paid leave to its municipal part-time or seasonal employees. Village president Michael Garvey said in an interview Thursday that the village opted out of Cook County’s ordinance and PLAWA because it had not budgeted for providing paid time off to its part-time and seasonal employees. The village also would potentially have to deal with staff shortages in areas that depend on these employees, such as summer camps run by seasonally employed counselors.
“We don’t have employees to cover those seasonal spots or those part-time spots,” Garvey said. “We don’t have replacement staff on hand to fill those important roles.”
