Does Illinois Have Paid Family Leave? The 40-Hour Law and Pending Bill

Illinois does not offer paid family leave in the traditional sense. There is no state insurance program that replaces your wages while you take weeks off to bond with a new baby, recover from a serious illness, or care for a sick family member. What Illinois does offer, under the Paid Leave for All Workers Act, is up to 40 hours of paid time off per year that most employees can use for any reason, including family and medical needs. A bill to create a true wage-replacement program has been introduced but not passed.¹

The 40 Hours of Paid Leave You Earn Each Year

Since January 1, 2024, most employees in Illinois earn one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked, up to at least 40 hours in a 12-month period.² The law applies to employers of all sizes, including nonprofits and religious organizations.³

You can use the time for anything: a doctor’s appointment, a child’s school event, a mental health day, caring for a relative, or a long weekend. Your employer cannot ask why you’re taking the leave and cannot require documentation.⁴

That flexibility makes the law useful for short-term family needs, but it will not cover a six-week parental leave or an extended caregiving absence. For those situations, Illinois workers rely on unpaid protections, discussed below.

Who Is Covered and Who Is Not

The law reaches most private-sector workers and many government employees. State and local government workers are included. Domestic workers are specifically covered, even if they work as independent contractors.³

Several categories fall outside the law:

Railroad and airline employees covered by the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act or the Railway Labor Act
School district employees under the Illinois School Code
Park district employees under the Park District Code
College students employed part-time and temporarily by the school where they’re enrolled
Short-term higher education workers employed for less than two consecutive calendar quarters without an expectation of rehire
Construction workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement
Delivery and transportation workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement with a national or international parcel and freight employer
Independent contractors (except for domestic workers)

Workers in other industries covered by a collective bargaining agreement are not automatically exempt, but the union and employer can waive the law’s requirements if the waiver is spelled out clearly in the agreement.⁴

How You Earn and Use the Hours

Employers can choose between two methods. Under accrual, you earn one hour for every 40 hours worked, starting your first day. Unused hours carry over to the next year, though the employer never has to let your balance exceed 40 hours in any 12-month period.²

Under front-loading, the employer gives you all 40 hours (or a prorated amount for part-time or mid-year hires) at the start of each 12-month period. Front-loaded leave does not carry over. If you use the full balance and leave the job before the year ends, your employer cannot claw back the time.³

You cannot use the leave during your first 90 days of employment. After that, you can take it in blocks as small as two hours.⁴ If your absence is foreseeable, the employer can require seven calendar days’ notice. For emergencies, you just follow whatever reasonable notification policy the employer has in writing. You still don’t have to say why.

If your employer already offers paid time off, vacation, or personal days of at least 40 hours per year, they can count that existing policy toward the law rather than opening a separate leave bank.⁵

Chicago and Cook County Add More

If you work in Chicago, the city ordinance is more generous than the state law. Chicago uses a two-tier system: general paid leave usable for any reason, and separate paid sick and safe leave for health and safety purposes. You qualify if you work at least 80 hours in the city within any 120-day period, and you accrue one hour of each type for every 35 hours worked.⁶ If you use sick and safe leave for more than three consecutive workdays, your employer can ask for a doctor’s note.

Cook County has its own Earned Sick Paid Leave Ordinance covering employees who work at least two hours in the county during a two-week period, outside Chicago. You accrue one hour of sick leave for every 40 hours worked, capped at 40 hours per year, and up to 20 hours can carry over.⁷ More than 100 municipalities inside Cook County have opted out, so if your workplace is in one of those towns the county ordinance does not apply, though the state law still does.⁸ Check with your municipality or the Cook County Commission on Human Rights to confirm.

Longer Family and Medical Leave Is Unpaid

Forty hours will not cover a new baby, major surgery, or extended caregiving. For those situations, Illinois workers depend on unpaid, job-protected leave.

Federal FMLA

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for the birth or adoption of a child, caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition, or your own serious health condition. You must work for an employer with at least 50 employees within 75 miles, and you need 12 months and at least 1,250 hours of service. Your employer must restore you to the same or an equivalent position when you return.⁹

Your employer can require you to use accrued paid leave at the same time as FMLA, so the paid 40 hours and the 12 weeks run concurrently rather than back-to-back.⁹ The remaining weeks are unpaid unless your employer offers additional paid benefits.

VESSA and Bereavement

If you or a family member is a victim of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or another crime of violence, the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for medical treatment, legal proceedings, counseling, safety planning, and relocation. If a family or household member is killed by a violent crime, VESSA adds up to two weeks of bereavement leave.¹⁰ The separate Family Bereavement Leave Act gives up to two weeks (10 work days) of unpaid leave after the death of a child.

What Happens to Unused Leave If You Quit or Get Fired

Whether unused paid leave gets paid out depends on how your employer set the policy up. If the employer merged the Act’s paid leave into its existing vacation or PTO bank, unused time must be paid out at separation to the same extent as vacation pay under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. If the employer keeps the leave in a separate bank, no payout is required.¹¹

Chicago has its own payout rules. Employers with 51 or more covered employees must pay out accrued general paid leave at separation, up to a maximum of 56 hours. Smaller Chicago employers are not required to pay out general paid leave, and sick and safe leave never has to be paid out unless a collective bargaining agreement says otherwise.¹² If you’re not sure how your employer handles this, ask HR in writing. That paper trail matters if there is ever a dispute over your final paycheck.

The Paid Family Leave Insurance Bill That Has Not Passed

House Bill 3483, introduced in the 2025–2026 legislative session, would create a Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program administered by a new division within the Illinois Department of Labor. As proposed, premium collection would begin January 1, 2027, and benefits would become available starting January 1, 2028.¹ The bill has not been enacted, and its final terms, including benefit amounts, duration, and contribution rates, could change during the legislative process. If it passes, Illinois would join about a dozen states that provide wage replacement for workers taking extended leave to bond with a new child, recover from a serious illness, or care for a family member.

Until that program exists, your paid options are the 40 hours under state law (plus any extra your city or county adds), whatever your employer voluntarily offers, and short-term disability insurance if you carry it.

If Your Employer Punishes You for Taking Leave

The Paid Leave for All Workers Act prohibits employers from firing, demoting, disciplining, or otherwise retaliating against employees who use their leave. Employers cannot count paid leave usage as a negative factor in performance reviews or attendance policies.⁴

You have three years to file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Labor. An employee’s complaint can result in the employer owing underpaid wages, compensatory damages, and a penalty between $500 and $1,000. The Department can separately impose a civil penalty of $2,500 per violation.⁴ Before you file, gather your pay stubs, any written communication with your employer about the leave request, your handbook or contract, and notes on what happened. You can submit the complaint through the Department of Labor’s website.¹³ Review typically takes several months.

1
LegiScan. Illinois HB3483 – 2025-2026 104th General Assembly
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 820 ILCS 192/15 – Provision of Paid Leave
3
Illinois Department of Labor. Paid Leave for All Workers Act FAQ
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 820 ILCS 192 – Paid Leave for All Workers Act
5
Illinois Department of Labor. Paid Leave for All Workers Act
6
City of Chicago. Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave
7
Cook County. Cook County Earned Sick Paid Leave Ordinance No. 24-0583
8
Cook County. Municipalities That Follow Cook County Earned Sick Leave
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act
10
Illinois Department of Labor. Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA)
11
LII / Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 56 Section 200.460 – Determining Payout of Paid Leave Upon Separation from Employment
12
City of Chicago Office of Labor Standards. FAQ Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave
13
Illinois Department of Labor. File a Workplace Complaint