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Before our union fought for and won a Paid Time Off (PTO) for every home care worker at the beginning of last year, only a small group of workers with high seniority, or who worked a lot of hours qualified for a single week of vacation.

Now every home care worker earns PTO each week, and in most of our contracts, those with more seniority earn more PTO.

During last year’s reopoener negotiations, we pushed to make this benefit stronger, and we won! The biggest change is that workers at our two largest employers, Addus and Help at Home, can now request a partial cashout of our PTO.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Addus workers: Be sure to submit your partial PTO cashout by December 1st. You can request the PTO pay out request form at your branch office and/or from your supervisor OR you can click here to submit a digital copy. Keep a copy of your filled out form for your records. To determine your current available balance (of which you can request half), please check ADP or your most recent pay stub. (UPDATED 11/21/25).
  
• Help at Home workers: You can request your partial cashout any time during December. Make sure the request is in writing to your supervisor.

How PTO Accrual Works

Addus

***Addus workers can click here to request their partial PTO cashout by December 1st***

Section 3: Carry-Over and Payout

Paid leave accrual shall carry over annually to the extent not used by the employee, Paid leave accrual shall carry over annually to the extent not used by the employee, however, the Company is not required to provide more than maximum amount of accrued paid leave as specified in Section 1 for any employee in any 12-month period unless the Company agrees to do so. An employee may elect to cash out up to half of their paid leave balance annually. Such election shall be made to the employer no later than December 1st of each year.  

The Company is not required to pay employees for paid leave accrued under this Article upon the employee’s separation from employment. The 12-month period is defined as January 1 to December 31 of each year.

Years of Service	Accrual Rate	Cap
0-3 years	1 hour for every 40 hours worked	40 hours/year max
4-8 years	1.25 hours for every 40 hours worked	65 hours/year max
9+ years	1.5 hours for every 40 hours worked	75 hours/year max

Help at Home

Section 3: Seniority

Employees shall earn paid leave at the following accrual rate based on their years of service:

Years of Service	Accrual	Accrual Cap	Max Cashout
0-5 years	1 hour for every 40 hours worked	40 hours	10 hours
6-9 years	1.25 hours for every 40 hours worked	65 hours	22.75 hours
10+ years	1.5 hours for every 40 hours worked	75 hours	37.5 hours

Section 4: Carry-Over and Payout

Paid leave accrual shall carry over annually to the extent not used by the employee. An employee may elect to cash out unused paid leave based on the PTO table in Section 3: Seniority. Such an election shall be made by the employee between December 1 and December 31 of the calendar year. Cash out is only available to active employees and for hours accrued within the current year of the cash out request.  “Active” is defined as having received a paycheck in the preceding 90 days of the cash out request.  The Company is not required to pay employees for PTO accrued under this section upon the employee’s separation of employment.  

Chicago Commons

Section 3: Accrual Rates

Paid leave under this Article shall accrue at a base rate of one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked in a 12-month period. 

Section 4: Anniversary Deposit and Annual Caps

Full-time employees will have 75 hours deposited into their PTO bank on their anniversary. They can accrue and use a maximum of 115 hours of Paid Time Off annually.  

Part-time employees with less than 10 years of seniority will have 15 hours deposited into their PTO bank on their anniversary. Part-time employees with less than 10 years of seniority can accrue and use a maximum of 55 hours of Paid Time Off annually.  

Part-time employees with 10 or more years of seniority will have 22.5 hours deposited into their PTO bank on their anniversary. Part-time employees with 10 or more years of seniority can accrue and use a maximum of 62.5 hours of Paid Time Off annually.  

Section 5: Carry-Over  

Paid leave accrual shall carry over ½ of accrued time annually to the extent not used by the employee, provided however that the employee may elect to cash out any portion of such unused paid leave. Such election shall be made by the employee prior to their anniversary.  

If an employee does not make such an election, ½ of an employee’s unused hours shall carry over.  

ActiveCare/Zayan

Section 3: Carry-Over

Paid leave accrual shall carry over annually to the extent not used by the employee, however, the Company is not required to provide more than maximum amount of accrued paid leave as specified in Section 1 for any employee in any 12-month period unless the Company agrees to do so.  

The Company is required to pay employees for ½ of paid leave accrued under this Article upon the employee’s voluntary separation from employment if two weeks’ notice is provided.  The Company is not required to pay employees for paid leave accrued under this Article if they are terminated for cause.    

NOTE: Zayan does NOT have any cashout currently, only cashout of ½ when quitting IF you give two weeks’ notice.