Summary: A new Illinois law requires covered employers to provide unpaid leave to employees while their child is a patient in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
By: Paul Kramer
Covered employers: Illinois employers with more than 15 employees.
Effective date: June 1, 2026
Action items: Employers with 16 to 50 employees must provide up to 10 days of unpaid leave during their child’s stay in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, while larger employers must provide up to 20 days of unpaid leave. Review policies, practices and management training to promote compliance with the law.
Effective June 1, 2026, Illinois employers with more than 15 employees must provide unpaid leave to employees with a child who is a patient in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (“NICU leave”) as part of the Illinois Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act (“Act”). Employers with 16 to 50 employees must grant up to 10 days of NICU leave and employers with 51 or more employees must provide up to 20 days of leave. NICU leave may be taken continuously or intermittently in the employee’s discretion, but employers may require that leave be taken in minimum increments of not less than two hours.
“Child” is defined broadly in the Act to include leave taken for biological, adopted and foster children as well as stepchildren, legal wards and children of a person standing in loco parentis.
Leave must be provided to employees regardless of how many hours they have worked or their length of service with their employer. Moreover, NICU leave is in addition to federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, but workers must first exhaust their FMLA leave before using NICU leave.
Employers may not require employees to use any accrued paid time off before taking NICU leave, but employees may choose to substitute other paid or unpaid time off for an equivalent period on NICU leave.
Reasonable verification of the employee’s child’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay may be requested by employers, but requiring disclosure of confidential medical information is not allowed.
Finally, employers must maintain the employee’s health insurance benefits while on NICU leave and must reinstate the worker to the same or substantially equivalent position when the leave ends. Retaliation against employees who take NICU leave, assert their right to leave or support other employees doing so is strictly prohibited.
NICU leave is a big step in helping workers who have a child requiring intensive medical care. To meet compliance requirements and avoid costly penalties, Illinois employers should consider updating their employee handbooks to include the new leave’s requirements, training Human Resources and managers on complying with the Act and providing NICU leave information to workers when an employee’s leave relates to a child’s NICU stay.
Get expert insights into navigating compliance requirements and more in the Current State of North American Workplace Compliance report.
