Beginning June 1, 2026, Illinois employers with at least 16 or more employees will be required to provide unpaid parental leave to employees with a child who is a patient in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act (Act) into law on August 15, 2025.
Under the Act, Illinois employers with 16 to 50 employees must provide up to 10 days of unpaid leave for employees with a child who is a patient in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Employers with 51 or more employees must provide employees with a child in the NICU with up to 20 days of unpaid leave. The Act does not apply to employers with 15 or fewer employees.
Eligible employees may choose to take NICU leave continuously or intermittently. For intermittent leave, employers can set the minimum increment of time that must be taken, so long as the increments are two hours or less. However, employees eligible for leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) must first exhaust their available FMLA entitlement before taking leave under this Act.
Employers may require “reasonable verification” of the employee’s child’s length of stay in the NICU but cannot request confidential medical information in support of the leave.
The Act also contains additional protections for employees taking NICU leave:
- Although employers cannot require employees to use paid leave that is available “for any reason” (such as PTO or leave under the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act) instead of unpaid leave provided by the Act, employees may choose to substitute any available paid leave for unpaid leave.
- Employers are required to reinstate employees to their former or a substantially equivalent position at the conclusion of leave.
- Employers must maintain any applicable health insurance benefits for employees while on leave.
- Employees cannot be required to provide a replacement worker while taking leave.
- Employees are protected from retaliation when exercising their own rights under the Act, opposing employer practices prohibited by the Act, or supporting co-workers who are exercising rights under the Act.
The Act does not currently require employers to provide notice to employees of their rights under the Act. However, the IDOL is authorized to adopt rules necessary to administer and enforce the Act and may address this (or other matters) through regulation. Jackson Lewis attorneys will monitor regulatory developments.
Employers should review and revise leave policies to ensure compliance with these upcoming requirements.
This article was co-authored by John P. Cratty