The Illinois legislature was busy in 2025, changing laws for employers with operations in the state.
Although less new legislation takes effect on January 1, 2026, than on New Year’s Day last year, a few notable items will require employers to update their policies and procedures. We recently covered the amendments to the Illinois Workplace Transparency Act (WTA), which will require important changes to many separation agreements, but be sure to read below for further guidance on the WTA and highlights of the other significant employment-related legal developments in Illinois.
Paid Breaks for Nursing Mothers
Amendments to the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act expand entitlements afforded to working, nursing mothers and apply to all Illinois employers with more than five employees. Current law requires covered employers to provide “reasonable break time” for an employee needing to express breast milk for her nursing infant child for up to one year after the child’s birth, “as needed.” Such breaks can run concurrently with any other break time already provided to the employee.
Starting January 1, 2026, these amendments will require that such breaks be paid at the employee’s regular rate of compensation, unless payment would create an “undue hardship” as defined in the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA). The IHRA expressly defines an “undue hardship” as one that is “prohibitively expensive or disruptive” when considered in light of specified factors, including the nature and cost of the accommodation, the financial resources of the employer, the size of the employer, and the impact on operations.
Importantly, the amendments prohibit employers from forcing employees to use paid leave for lactation breaks or reducing the employee’s compensation during the break time in any other manner.
Other lactation accommodation requirements remain unchanged. For example, employers must continue to make reasonable efforts to provide a room or area (not a toilet stall) near the employee’s worksite that the employee may use to express breast milk privately.
New Protected Leave Benefits for Parents of NICU Babies
The Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act (NICLA), which takes effect on June 1, 2026, expands Illinois’s list of qualifying reasons for which employers must grant leave. The new law provides protected, unpaid leave for employees with a child in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). NICUs are special care units that provide medical treatment to premature and critically ill infants. To clarify employee eligibility, NICLA defines a “child” as “a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis.”
NICLA only applies to employers with 16 or more employees. For employers with 16 to 50 employees, employees must be granted up to 10 days of protected, unpaid leave while their child is a patient in a NICU (“NICU leave”). Employers of 51 or more employees are required to grant up to 20 days of such leave.
All employees of covered employers are eligible to take NICU leave, regardless of length of service or whether they work part-time or full-time. In this, NICLA differs from the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which generally only covers employers with 50 or more employees and limits eligibility for protected unpaid leave to employees with a service duration of at least 12 months and a total of at least 1,250 hours worked in the preceding year. Similar to the FMLA, however, employees can take NICU leave continuously or intermittently. Employers may establish a minimum increment of time for intermittent use of NICU leave, but this minimum must be no less than two hours.
Employers may not require employees to use any accrued paid leave prior to taking NICU leave, though employees may choose to do so on their own behalf. Moreover, once an employee returns from NICU leave, they must be reinstated to their original or an equivalent role, with no loss of accrued benefits.
An employer may request that employees taking NICU leave provide the employer with some form of “reasonable verification” that includes the child’s length of stay in a NICU. Employers must, however, be sure not to request any confidential medical information protected by law.
Lastly, NICLA prohibits retaliation against employees who take or attempt to take NICU leave or who support the exercise of another’s rights under NICLA. The new law also provides for agency enforcement and a private right of action, although the time to file an administrative complaint or a lawsuit is limited by a short 60-day statute of limitations. Violations of NICLA can result in civil penalties of up to $5,000 per employee affected, and the statute provides for other remedies through litigation.
WTA Amendments Affecting Employment Agreements
As a reminder, amendments to the Illinois WTA will require important changes to Illinois employment and separation agreements beginning January 1, 2026. Some of the key changes and new requirements include the following:
- Separate and Specific Consideration: Confidentiality clauses executed on or after January 1, 2026, must be supported by a separate allocation of consideration. This requires a specific allocation of consideration expressly in exchange for a promise of confidentiality, separate from any allocation for a release of claims.
- Narrower Options for Dispute Resolution: Under the WTA amendments, employment agreement clauses that unilaterally shorten the statute of limitations for a potential claim, seek to apply the law of a jurisdiction other than Illinois to an Illinois state law claim, or require a judicial venue outside of Illinois are void.
- Union-Friendly Rule: No employment agreement clause can unilaterally limit an employee from engaging in concerted activity (i.e., collective bargaining or other means by which workers promote mutual aid or protection) to address work-related issues.
You can find our detailed overview of the WTA amendments and more compliance tips for employers here.
What Illinois Employers Should Do Now
- Review and update leave and break policies to comply with the new obligations under NICLA and the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act.
- Train appropriate HR staff on how to verify NICU stays without violating relevant privacy laws or regulations, and about NICLA’s anti-retaliation rules.
- Review language in employment-related contracts, including those used for settlements and separation pay, to ensure compliance with the WTA amendments.
- Watch for updates as we continue to monitor the Illinois Department of Labor and the Illinois Department of Human Rights for further guidance.
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For additional information about the issues discussed in this Insight, please contact the attorney(s) listed on this page or the Epstein Becker Green Employment, Labor & Workforce Management attorney who regularly handles your legal matters.
Staff Attorney Elizabeth A. Ledkovsky contributed to this Insight.
