104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB0170 Introduced 1/17/2025, by Sen. Sue Rezin SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: 50 ILCS 748/5 Amends the Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection Act. Provides that, in the case of an employee who is deployed to a disaster area as a volunteer emergency worker, the employer shall, upon the return of the employee, restore the employee to a position of similar seniority, status, and pay in which the employee would have been employed if the continuous employment of the employee had not been interrupted. LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b A BILL FOR 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB0170 Introduced 1/17/2025, by Sen. Sue Rezin SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: 50 ILCS 748/5 50 ILCS 748/5 Amends the Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection Act. Provides that, in the case of an employee who is deployed to a disaster area as a volunteer emergency worker, the employer shall, upon the return of the employee, restore the employee to a position of similar seniority, status, and pay in which the employee would have been employed if the continuous employment of the employee had not been interrupted. LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b A BILL FOR
104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB0170 Introduced 1/17/2025, by Sen. Sue Rezin SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
50 ILCS 748/5 50 ILCS 748/5
50 ILCS 748/5
Amends the Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection Act. Provides that, in the case of an employee who is deployed to a disaster area as a volunteer emergency worker, the employer shall, upon the return of the employee, restore the employee to a position of similar seniority, status, and pay in which the employee would have been employed if the continuous employment of the employee had not been interrupted.
LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
A BILL FOR
SB0170LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b SB0170 LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
SB0170 LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
1 AN ACT concerning local government.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection
5 Act is amended by changing Section 5 as follows:
6 (50 ILCS 748/5)
7 Sec. 5. Volunteer emergency worker; when termination of
8 employment prohibited.
9 (a) No public or private employer may terminate an
10 employee who is a volunteer emergency worker because the
11 employee, when acting as a volunteer emergency worker, is
12 absent from or late to his or her employment in order to
13 respond to an emergency prior to the time the employee is to
14 report to his or her place of employment.
15 (a-5) A public or private employer shall not discipline an
16 employee who is a volunteer emergency worker if the employee,
17 in the scope of acting as a volunteer emergency worker,
18 responds to an emergency phone call or text message during
19 work hours that requests the person's volunteer emergency
20 services. This subsection (a-5) does not apply to a person
21 employed by a public or private vehicle service provider and
22 who is in the course of performing services as Emergency
23 Medical Services personnel as defined in Section 3.5 of the
104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB0170 Introduced 1/17/2025, by Sen. Sue Rezin SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
50 ILCS 748/5 50 ILCS 748/5
50 ILCS 748/5
Amends the Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection Act. Provides that, in the case of an employee who is deployed to a disaster area as a volunteer emergency worker, the employer shall, upon the return of the employee, restore the employee to a position of similar seniority, status, and pay in which the employee would have been employed if the continuous employment of the employee had not been interrupted.
LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
A BILL FOR
50 ILCS 748/5
LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
SB0170 LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
SB0170- 2 -LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b SB0170 - 2 - LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
SB0170 - 2 - LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
1 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act. This subsection
2 (a-5) shall not diminish or supersede an employer's written
3 workplace policy, a collective bargaining agreement,
4 administrative guidelines, or other applicable written rules
5 administered by the employer. Existing written policies
6 governing the use of cell phones shall prevail and control.
7 (b) An employer may charge, against the employee's regular
8 pay, any time that an employee who is a volunteer emergency
9 worker loses from employment because of the employee's
10 response to an emergency in the course of performing his or her
11 duties as a volunteer emergency worker.
12 (c) In the case of an employee who is a volunteer emergency
13 worker and who loses time from his or her employment in order
14 to respond to an emergency in the course of performing his or
15 her duties as a volunteer emergency worker, the employer has
16 the right to request the employee to provide the employer with
17 a written statement from the supervisor or acting supervisor
18 of the volunteer fire department or governmental entity that
19 the volunteer emergency worker serves stating that the
20 employee responded to an emergency and stating the time and
21 date of the emergency.
22 (d) An employee who is a volunteer emergency worker and
23 who may be absent from or late to his or her employment in
24 order to respond to an emergency in the course of performing
25 his or her duties as a volunteer emergency worker must make a
26 reasonable effort to notify his or her employer that he or she
SB0170 - 2 - LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
SB0170- 3 -LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b SB0170 - 3 - LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
SB0170 - 3 - LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b
SB0170 - 3 - LRB104 03073 SPS 13091 b