Public Act 0063 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB0214 Enrolled LRB103 05995 DTM 51019 b

Public Act 103-0063

AN ACT concerning State government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Public Employee Disability Act is amended by adding Section 2 as follows:

(5 ILCS 345/2 new)

Sec. 2. Illness disability benefit.

(a) As used in this Section:

"Eligible employee" means any full-time law enforcement officer or full-time firefighter, including a full-time paramedic or a firefighter who performs paramedic duties, who is employed by any unit of local government, including any home rule unit.

"Illness" means any illness, disease, or condition the presence of which in a community results in the declaration of a disaster or emergency by a State, county, or municipal official.

(b) Whenever an eligible employee suffers an illness in the line of duty which causes the employee to be unable to perform the employee's duties, the employee shall continue to be paid by the employing public entity on the same basis as the employee was paid before the illness, with no deduction from the employee's sick leave credits, compensatory time for overtime accumulations or vacation, or service credits in a public pension fund during the time the employee is unable to perform the employee's duties due to the result of the illness, but not longer than one year in relation to the same illness.

(c) At any time during the period for which continuing compensation is required by this Act, the employing public entity may order at the expense of that entity physical or medical examinations of the ill person to determine the degree of disability.

(d) During this period of disability, the ill person shall not be employed in any other manner, with or without a monetary compensation. Any person who is employed in violation of this subsection forfeits the continuing compensation provided by this Act from the time such employment begins. Any salary compensation due to the ill person from workers' compensation or any salary due to the employee from any type of insurance which may be carried by the employing public entity shall revert to that entity during the time for which continuing compensation is paid to the employee under this Act. Any person with a disability receiving compensation under the provisions of this Act shall not be entitled to any benefits for which the employee would qualify because of the employee's disability under the provisions of the Illinois Pension Code.

(e) Pursuant to paragraphs (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution, this Act specifically denies and limits the exercise by home rule units of any power which is inconsistent herewith, and all existing laws and ordinances which are inconsistent herewith are hereby superseded. This Act does not preempt the concurrent exercise by home rule units of powers consistent herewith.

This Act does not apply to any home rule unit with a population of over 1,000,000.

Effective Date: 1/1/2024