Illinois Paternity Leave Laws: FMLA, Paid Days, and Chicago Rules

Illinois paternity leave laws are not a single statute. New fathers and non-birthing parents in Illinois rely on a stack: up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected federal leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, at least 40 hours a year of paid leave under the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act, any sick or vacation time your employer already offers, and, for Chicago workers, additional paid hours under a city ordinance. Used together, these can add up to several weeks of time with your child, part of it paid.

What FMLA Gives a New Father

The FMLA entitles eligible employees to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for the birth of a child or the placement of a child through adoption or foster care. The statute is gender-neutral and applies equally to fathers, mothers, and any legal parent.¹

Two timing rules trip people up. Bonding leave expires 12 months after the birth or placement, so it cannot be banked for later.¹ And bonding leave cannot be taken intermittently (a day here, a day there) unless your employer agrees. Without that agreement, you take it in one continuous block. The exception is if the child has a serious health condition, where intermittent leave is available without employer consent.²

When you return, your employer must restore you to the same position or an equivalent one at the same pay, benefits, and working conditions, and must keep your group health insurance in place during the leave on the same terms as before. You still owe your usual share of the premium, and if you don’t come back after the leave your employer can recover what it paid toward your coverage, unless a serious health condition or circumstances beyond your control kept you from returning.³

FMLA leave itself is unpaid, but you or your employer can require accrued vacation, sick time, or other paid leave to run concurrently with it. That paid time still counts against the 12-week allotment and keeps all the same job protections.⁴ Running paid time in parallel is how most Illinois fathers avoid 12 weeks without a paycheck.

Who Is Eligible for FMLA

Three conditions must all be met:

You have worked for the same employer for at least 12 months, which do not have to be consecutive.
You logged at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months before your leave starts, roughly 24 hours a week.
Your employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite.

All three come from the statute’s definition of “eligible employee.”⁵ If you work for a smaller employer or have not been there long enough, FMLA will not apply, but the Illinois paid leave below and any employer policy still do.

If you work from home, your house is not the “worksite.” The Department of Labor treats your worksite as the office you report to or get assignments from, and the 50-employee count within 75 miles is measured from there and includes other remote workers who report to the same place.⁶ A small satellite office with only a few in-person staff can still clear 50 once remote colleagues are counted.

Two groups follow different rules. Federal civilian employees in Illinois are covered by the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, which provides up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in exchange for a written commitment to return for at least 12 weeks after it ends.⁷ Active-duty service members receive 12 weeks of non-chargeable bonding leave, available within one year of the child’s birth or placement, with possible extensions where deployment or other qualifying duty prevented timely use.⁸

The 40 Hours of Illinois Paid Leave

Since January 1, 2024, the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act has required most employers to provide paid leave usable for any reason. You earn one hour for every 40 hours worked, up to at least 40 hours per year. Accrual begins on your first day, and you can start using the time 90 days into employment.⁹ Because the leave can be used for any purpose, you do not have to document or justify bonding time to your employer.

Forty hours is roughly one paid week. Think of it as a guaranteed layer on top of accrued vacation and sick time rather than a replacement for extended leave.

A handful of workers are excluded from the Act:

Railroad workers covered by the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act or Railway Labor Act.
Certain college students in part-time, temporary jobs with the school they attend.
Short-term higher education employees working fewer than two consecutive calendar quarters with no reasonable expectation of rehire.
Construction workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Delivery and freight workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement with an employer providing national or international parcel, document, or freight services.

If you fall into the last two categories, your leave rights come from your union contract rather than the statute.¹⁰

Using Your Sick Time for a New Child

The Illinois Employee Sick Leave Act does not create new sick leave, but it stops employers from restricting the sick leave they already provide to only the employee’s own illness. If your employer gives you sick time, you must be allowed to use at least part of it to care for a family member, including a new child.¹¹ For a father piecing together paid time, that can mean several more days.

Extra Paid Leave in Chicago

Chicago workers get a stronger paid-leave layer. The Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance covers any employee who works at least 80 hours in Chicago within a 120-day period. Covered workers accrue one hour of paid leave and one hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked, a faster rate than the state law, and the paid leave portion can be used for any reason, bonding included.¹² Stacked with the state’s 40 hours and any accrued vacation, Chicago-based fathers often have more paid days available than they assume.

How to Request the Leave

When the need is foreseeable, like an expected birth or a scheduled placement, give at least 30 days’ advance notice.¹ When 30 days is not possible, notify your employer as soon as practicable. Most companies take the request through an HR portal or an email to a designated representative.

Your employer must respond with an eligibility notice within five business days of receiving your request or learning the leave may qualify as FMLA.¹³ That notice spells out whether you qualify, what documents are needed, and what protections apply. Silence past five business days is worth documenting.

For FMLA, expect to provide proof of the qualifying event: a birth certificate, hospital discharge papers, or adoption or foster placement documents. For the Illinois paid leave, no documentation or reason is required.

Protection From Retaliation and Unequal Treatment

The FMLA makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny any FMLA right, and it bars firing or discriminating against you for requesting leave, filing a complaint, or helping with an investigation.¹⁴

The Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act has its own anti-retaliation rules. Your employer cannot take adverse action for using paid leave, opposing a practice you believe violates the law, or supporting another employee’s leave rights. Your employer also cannot count paid leave usage against you under a no-fault attendance or point-based system.¹⁵

Unequal treatment is its own problem. The Illinois Human Rights Act bars discrimination based on sex and, since January 2025, family responsibilities. An employer that offers generous bonding leave to mothers but limits what fathers can take is engaging in sex discrimination.¹⁶ The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission takes the same position under Title VII: parental leave offered to one gender must be offered to the other on equal terms.¹⁷

Where to File a Complaint

Which agency handles the complaint depends on which law was broken. FMLA violations go to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243 or through its online portal. Complaints are confidential.¹⁸

Violations of the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act, the Employee Sick Leave Act, or related state leave laws go to the Illinois Department of Labor through its online form or a downloadable PDF emailed to DOL.PaidLeave@illinois.gov.¹⁹ Chicago workers with ordinance complaints file separately through the city’s Office of Labor Standards. Sex or family responsibilities discrimination claims under the Illinois Human Rights Act go to the Illinois Department of Human Rights.¹⁶

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 2612 – Leave Requirement
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28Q – Taking Leave from Work for Birth, Placement, and Bonding with a Child
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2614 – Employment and Benefits Protection
4
U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2611 – Definitions
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2023-1
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Paid Parental Leave
8
MyArmyBenefits. Changes to Military Parental Leave Program in NDAA
9
Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 192/15 – Paid Leave for All Workers Act
10
Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 192/10 – Paid Leave for All Workers Act Definitions
11
Illinois Department of Labor. Employee Sick Leave Act
12
City of Chicago. Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave
13
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.300 – Employer Notice Requirements
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2615 – Prohibited Acts
15
Illinois General Assembly. 56 Ill. Admin. Code 200.470 – Prohibition on Retaliation
16
Illinois Department of Human Rights. Employment Discrimination
17
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pregnancy Discrimination and Pregnancy-Related Disability Discrimination
18
U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint
19
Illinois Department of Labor. Paid Leave for All Workers Act Complaint Form