Public Act 100-0324
 
SB1895 EnrolledLRB100 11131 MJP 21397 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection
Act is amended by changing Section 5 as follows:
 
    (50 ILCS 748/5)
    Sec. 5. Volunteer emergency worker; when termination of
employment prohibited.
    (a) No public or private employer may terminate an employee
who is a volunteer emergency worker because the employee, when
acting as a volunteer emergency worker, is absent from or late
to his or her employment in order to respond to an emergency
prior to the time the employee is to report to his or her place
of employment.
    (a-5) A public or private employer shall not discipline an
employee who is a volunteer emergency worker if the employee,
in the scope of acting as a volunteer emergency worker,
responds to an emergency phone call or text message during work
hours that requests the person's volunteer emergency services.
This subsection (a-5) does not apply to a person employed by a
public or private vehicle service provider and who is in the
course of performing services as Emergency Medical Services
personnel as defined in Section 3.5 of the Emergency Medical
Services (EMS) Systems Act. This subsection (a-5) shall not
diminish or supersede an employer's written workplace policy, a
collective bargaining agreement, administrative guidelines, or
other applicable written rules administered by the employer.
Existing written policies governing the use of cell phones
shall prevail and control.
    (b) An employer may charge, against the employee's regular
pay, any time that an employee who is a volunteer emergency
worker loses from employment because of the employee's response
to an emergency in the course of performing his or her duties
as a volunteer emergency worker.
    (c) In the case of an employee who is a volunteer emergency
worker and who loses time from his or her employment in order
to respond to an emergency in the course of performing his or
her duties as a volunteer emergency worker, the employer has
the right to request the employee to provide the employer with
a written statement from the supervisor or acting supervisor of
the volunteer fire department or governmental entity that the
volunteer emergency worker serves stating that the employee
responded to an emergency and stating the time and date of the
emergency.
    (d) An employee who is a volunteer emergency worker and who
may be absent from or late to his or her employment in order to
respond to an emergency in the course of performing his or her
duties as a volunteer emergency worker must make a reasonable
effort to notify his or her employer that he or she may be
absent or late.
(Source: P.A. 93-1027, eff. 8-25-04; 94-599, eff. 1-1-06.)