SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog 

The Chicago City Council recently passed Ordinance No. 02021-2182 (the Ordinance), which, among other things, expands the permissible bases to take leave under the Chicago Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (PSLO) and creates new wage theft protections for employees. The paid sick leave amendments take effect on August 1, 2021, while the wage theft provisions went into effect on July 5, 2021.

President Biden is committed to promoting labor organizing in an effort to strengthen union organizing after years of declining membership. In 2020, 10.8 percent of employees, including governmental employees, belonged to a union. In the 1950s, the total union membership exceeded 30 percent, including governmental employees. In 2020, the union membership in the private sector was 6.3 percent, whereas in 1983, the unions represented 23 percent of the employees in the private sector.