Illinois Organ Donor Leave Act

[neutrino]

Hello - I'm reaching out to anyone who is a resident of the state of Illinois and has attempted to research our state's Organ Donor Leave Act (5 ILCS 327).  This legislation originally supported only state government employees.  I am employed in the private sector (work for California-based company, live and work in Illinois so Illinois labor law therefore applies to me).  All of my research indicates that Illinois is one of eight states that now support employer-mandated leave of absence with full pay for living organ donors but my employer's leave administrator is disputing this and therefore requiring me to take PTO and/or short-term disability benefits for my donation.  The Illinois Organ Donor Leave Act was amended in 2006 to remove any waiting period and stipulate payment of salary at 100% during the leave but it appears the definition of 'covered employee' was never changed.  Can anyone share what they know on this topic?  Many thanks!

[Michael]

I did a little research and, frankly, it's hard to tell whether private employers have to provide paid organ donor leave. It looks like they have to provide paid leave for blood donation but the 2006 amendments to the Organ Donor Leave Act didn't change the definition of "employer" to include private employers, so paid leave for organ and bone marrow donation may be limited to state employees. With that said, I found a newsletter from a law firm and a couple of donor web sites that mention it. Maybe a quick call to a labor lawyer will resolve the issue. Also note that it looks like the employer needs to have at least 51 employees in the state and the donor has to have been employed at least six months.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=111&ChapterID=2

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=094-0033

https://www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors/pdf/LDTaxDed_Leave.pdf

http://www.organdonor.gov/legislation_micro/

http://www.bryancave.com/files/Publication/ed6b3707-b89b-41c9-bd6c-7c8a1a5ddffd/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/9a304fc9-799c-4135-abbd-7df2c363cb44/LaborAlert12-21-05.pdf

[Kidney Bean]

Neutrino,
I actually work for a government agency in IL, and when I asked our HR department about it, I was told it only applies to State of Illinois employees. That did not and does not make sense to me, but that is the position they took. Hope it works out better for you.

-Annie

[neutrino]

Thanks Michael and Kidney Bean for your replies.  I would like to follow up on my own post with the following comments:

1 - There appears to be some misinformation on many web pages that provide links to the Illinois Organ Donor Leave Act.  After speaking to several State of Illinois offices and to the Chicago office of the National Kidney Foundation, I can confirm that the Illinois Organ Donor Leave Act applies only to state employees, not to employees in the private sector.
2 - I explored benefits under my employer's short term disability plan and was approved under that plan for time away from work post-donation.  I chose this option rather than consume weeks of accrued vacation pay.  This option may not be available for everyone but for those who are covered under a short term disability plan I would encourage you to explore benefits as a living donor.

Looking forward to posting my 'trip report' for my donation to my wife a couple of weeks ago.