COVID Vaccination Pay in Chicago

Officials in Cook County, Illinois – including Chicago – passed an ordinance requiring paid leave for employees who wish to get or are required to get a COVID-19 vaccination. That includes production crew members.

There are two important points about the new ordinance to pay attention to, based on whether the production requires their crew to be vaccinated or not before continuing work: 

• If the employer does not require a vaccination to continue working, the employee may use paid sick leave or paid vacation time that they have already accrued to get vaccinated. 

• If the employer requires employees to be vaccinated before continuing to work and the employee’s vaccination appointment falls inside business hours, the employer will be required to provide paid time off, up to four hours per dose, at the employee’s regular rate of pay. The employer cannot require employees to use their accrued paid sick leave or paid vacation time to cover missed hours for vaccination when the vaccination is required.  

Media Services Payroll can assist with special pay for crew vaccinations in Cook County. The County has not labeled the time as special Covid pay, so it can be added to a crew member’s time on a case by case basis.