If you work in Illinois for a covered employer and meet the service requirements, FMLA in Illinois gives you up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for qualifying medical and family reasons, with your group health insurance maintained on the same terms as if you were still working.1U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) On top of that federal baseline, Illinois has its own leave laws — a paid leave requirement, bereavement protections, leave for victims of violence, and more — that reach workers and situations federal FMLA leaves out.
Who Qualifies
Three things have to line up before you can take FMLA leave.
You need at least 12 months of employment with your current employer. The months don’t have to be consecutive, though a break of more than seven years generally wipes out the earlier service.2eCFR. 29 CFR 825.110 – Eligible Employee
You also need 1,250 hours of actual work in the 12 months right before leave starts. Vacation, sick days, and other paid time off don’t count — only hours you physically worked.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2611 – Definitions
And your employer has to be covered. Private employers are covered only if they employ at least 50 workers within 75 miles of your worksite.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2611 – Definitions Public agencies — state, county, and municipal — are covered no matter how small, and so are public and private K-12 schools.1U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) If your private employer has fewer than 50 workers within 75 miles, federal FMLA doesn’t apply to you, though some Illinois laws discussed later still might.
Reasons You Can Take FMLA Leave
FMLA covers specific situations, not any time away from work. You can use it for:
- The birth of your child and bonding time during the first 12 months after birth.
- Placement of a child with you through adoption or foster care, with bonding time in the first 12 months.
- Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition.
- Your own serious health condition that keeps you from doing your job, including inpatient care, chronic conditions, or ongoing treatment.
- Qualifying exigencies tied to a spouse, child, or parent on covered active duty or under deployment orders — things like arranging childcare, attending military briefings, or handling related legal and financial matters.5U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28F – Reasons That Workers May Take Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
Military Caregiver Leave: Up to 26 Weeks
A separate entitlement applies when your spouse, child, parent, or next of kin is a current servicemember or recent veteran with a serious injury or illness. In that situation you can take up to 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period to provide care.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2612 – Leave Requirement A “recent veteran” is someone discharged within the past five years.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28M – Using FMLA Leave Because of a Family Members Military Service The 26 weeks is a combined cap: any other FMLA leave you take in that same 12-month period counts against it.
How to Request Leave
When your need for leave is foreseeable — a planned surgery, a baby’s due date, a scheduled adoption — give your employer at least 30 days’ advance notice.8eCFR. 29 CFR 825.300 – Employer Notice Requirements When something is unexpected, like an emergency hospitalization, notify your employer as soon as practical, usually within a day or two.
Your employer can require medical certification. The Department of Labor publishes optional forms for this purpose — WH-380-E for your own condition and WH-380-F for a family member’s.9U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Forms Your healthcare provider fills them out with enough detail to show that a serious health condition exists, including its onset and expected duration. A specific diagnosis isn’t required. Make sure the provider signs and includes contact information, because your employer is allowed to follow up to verify.
What Your Employer Must Do in Return
Once you request leave or your employer learns you may need it, the employer has five business days to send you an eligibility notice that confirms whether you meet the requirements.8eCFR. 29 CFR 825.300 – Employer Notice Requirements After the employer has enough information to tell whether your leave qualifies — typically after your medical certification arrives — it has another five business days to issue a designation notice confirming the leave is FMLA and how much of your 12-week entitlement it will use.
Getting Paid During FMLA Leave
FMLA leave is unpaid by default. You can choose to use accrued vacation, personal time, or sick leave at the same time as FMLA leave, and your employer can require you to do so.10eCFR. 29 CFR 825.207 – Substitution of Paid Leave Either way, the weeks keep counting against your 12-week FMLA entitlement.
There’s a wrinkle that matters for Illinois workers receiving benefits through a state or local paid-leave program. In a January 2025 opinion letter, the Department of Labor explained that when you’re already being paid through a government-run paid leave program, the FMLA leave isn’t “unpaid,” so the substitution rule doesn’t apply automatically. Your employer can’t unilaterally force you to burn accrued paid leave on top of those program benefits. You and the employer can agree to supplement the benefits to bring your pay up to 100%, but it has to be an agreement.
Intermittent Leave
Not every serious condition needs 12 straight weeks off. FMLA allows intermittent leave, taken in smaller blocks for things like recurring treatments or chronic-condition flares. You generally need to follow your employer’s normal call-in procedures for each absence. Your employer can also move you temporarily to a different position with equivalent pay and benefits if an intermittent schedule fits better there.
Your Job When You Come Back
At the end of your leave, your employer must restore you to the same job you had before or to a virtually identical position in pay, benefits, and working conditions.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2614 – Employment and Benefits Protection That means the same duties, an equivalent schedule, and the same worksite or one nearby. If you were given an unconditional raise while you were out, you’re entitled to it on return. You also can’t be made to re-qualify for benefits you already had.12U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor – Equivalent Position and Benefits
The Key Employee Exception
One narrow exception exists. If you’re a salaried employee in the top 10% of earners within 75 miles of your worksite, you’re a “key employee,” and your employer can refuse to reinstate you — not deny the leave itself — if restoring you would cause substantial and grievous economic injury to the business.13U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor – Key Employees and Their Rights That standard is deliberately higher than the “undue hardship” test used elsewhere in employment law. Your employer must notify you in writing that you qualify as a key employee at the time leave is requested or begins. If the employer later decides reinstatement would cause that level of harm, it has to send a second written notice explaining why and giving you a reasonable chance to return. Skip either notice, and the employer loses the right to deny reinstatement.
Retaliation and Enforcement
Your employer cannot interfere with your FMLA rights or punish you for using them. That means no firing, demoting, hour-cutting, or other discrimination because you took or requested FMLA leave. The protection extends to employees who file complaints, participate in investigations, or testify in FMLA-related proceedings.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2615 – Prohibited Acts
Remedies can be substantial. You may recover lost wages and benefits, interest on those amounts, and liquidated damages in an equal amount, which effectively doubles the recovery. A court can also order reinstatement or promotion, and must award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to a prevailing employee.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2617 – Enforcement An employer avoids liquidated damages only by proving it acted in good faith and reasonably believed its conduct was lawful.
How to File a Complaint
You have two routes. You can file with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division online or by calling 1-866-487-9243; your complaint goes to the nearest field office, which contacts you within two business days.16Worker.gov. Filing a Complaint With the US Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division Or you can file a private lawsuit in federal or state court. The statute of limitations is two years from the last violation, extended to three years if the violation was willful.17U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor
Illinois Leave Laws That Go Beyond FMLA
Illinois workers have protections federal FMLA doesn’t cover. Some of these laws reach smaller employers; others provide paid time or cover situations FMLA doesn’t recognize.
Paid Leave for All Workers Act
Since January 1, 2024, most Illinois employers must provide paid leave that employees can use for any reason, no explanation needed. You accrue one hour for every 40 hours worked, up to at least 40 hours in a 12-month period.18Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 192 – Paid Leave for All Workers Act There’s no minimum tenure or hours threshold before accrual starts. Unused hours carry over, though your employer can cap actual use at 40 hours per 12-month period.19Illinois Department of Labor. Paid Leave for All Workers Act FAQ Unused leave doesn’t have to be paid out when you leave the job unless your employer’s policy or a union agreement says so. Exempt (salaried) employees are presumed to work 40 hours per week for accrual. Two carve-outs: school districts and park districts are excluded, and workplaces covered by a local paid-leave ordinance (such as Chicago or Cook County) follow that ordinance instead.
Chicago’s Paid Leave Ordinance
Chicago workers get a more generous system with two separate banks: paid leave for any reason, and paid sick leave. You accrue one hour of each for every 35 hours worked.20City of Chicago. Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave Coverage reaches anyone who works at least 80 hours in Chicago within a 120-day period. Your employer can’t ask why you’re using general paid leave. Sick leave is slightly different — after three consecutive sick days, your employer may ask for written confirmation from a healthcare provider.
Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA)
If you or a family member is a victim of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender-based violence, or another violent crime, VESSA provides unpaid leave to get medical help, legal assistance, counseling, or safety planning. The length depends on employer size: up to 12 weeks at employers with 50 or more employees, up to 8 weeks at 15 to 49, and up to 4 weeks at 1 to 14.21Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 180/20 – Victims Economic Security and Safety Act Small-employer coverage is one gap federal FMLA leaves open.
Family Bereavement Leave Act
You can take up to 10 workdays of unpaid leave per qualifying event. Covered events include the death of a family member — spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, stepparent, stepchild, domestic partner, or in-law — along with a miscarriage, stillbirth, unsuccessful fertility treatment, failed adoption match, failed surrogacy agreement, or a diagnosis that negatively affects pregnancy or fertility.22Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 154 – Family Bereavement Leave Act Multiple events in a 12-month period cap at six weeks total. Leave must be used within 60 days of the event, and when practical you must give 48 hours’ notice.
Child Extended Bereavement Leave Act
A parent who loses a child to suicide or homicide can take extended unpaid leave: up to 12 weeks at employers with 250 or more full-time employees, or up to 6 weeks at employers with 50 to 249.23Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 156 – Child Extended Bereavement Leave Act Only two weeks of employment is required to qualify. You can take the time all at once or intermittently in blocks of at least four hours, and you must finish within one year of notifying your employer.
School Visitation Rights Act
When you need to attend a school conference, behavioral meeting, or academic meeting for your child that can’t be scheduled outside work hours, your employer must grant up to eight hours of leave per school year, no more than four hours on any single day.24Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 147/15 – School Visitation Rights Act This leave is unpaid unless you have accrued vacation or personal leave to apply, and you must exhaust that accrued leave (other than sick and disability leave) before using the School Visitation entitlement.
Illinois Family Military Leave Act
When a family member is called to military service of more than 30 days, this law provides unpaid leave during deployment. Employers with more than 50 employees must give up to 30 days; employers with 15 to 50 must give up to 15 days.25Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 151 – Family Military Leave Act Eligible relatives include the servicemember’s spouse, parent, child, or grandparent, which is broader than FMLA’s qualifying exigency leave; FMLA doesn’t cover grandparents.