AFFI Legislative Alert

AFFI LEGISLATIVE ALERT
Governor JB Pritzker signs HB2455

During the General Assembly’s three-day emergency session, the AFFI legislative team added all COVID-19 related illnesses to the list of rebuttable presumptions covered under the Workers Compensation Act. This includes a waiver of the five-year employment threshold for our newest members.

Description: An agreed bill as a result of negotiations between business and labor to address the unemployment insurance system in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amends the Unemployment Insurance Act to allow the Illinois Department of Employment Security to capture 100% federal funding for extended benefits, continue the suspension of the waiting week, make non-instructional educational staff eligible for unemployment benefits during the summer months and academic vacation weeks, and amend existing rest stops for 2022. Amends the Workers’ Compensation Act to allow the Illinois Works Review Panel to hold its initial meeting no later than 45 days after the effective date, allow payments of duty death benefits to surviving spouses of Chicago police and firefighters who die from contracting COVID-19 between March 2020 and December 2020, revise eligibility for workers compensation to include disease or injury from COVID-19 for first responders or frontline workers, and make changes to unemployment payments.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately