The Illinois Family Bereavement Leave Act

The Child Bereavement Leave Act, enacted in 2016, required employers to provide 10 days of unpaid leave annually to employees grieving the death of a child. Under the CBLA, employers were required to give employees time off to:

• Attend the funeral or alternative to a funeral of a child

• Make arrangements necessitated by the death of a child

• Grieve the death of a child

Under the CBLA, “child” is defined as an employee’s son or daughter who is a biological, adopted, foster, step, legal ward, or child of a person standing in loco parentis. The FBLA broadens the scope of covered family members, which now includes: an employee’s child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent. Further, the FBLA provides that employees are entitled bereavement leave due to:

1. A miscarriage

2. An unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or an assisted reproductive technology procedure (such as IVF)

3. A failed adoption match or an adoption that is not finalized because it is contested by another party

4. A failed surrogacy agreement

5. A diagnosis that negatively impacts pregnancy or fertility

6. A stillbirth

Any bereavement leave must be completed within 60 days after the date on which the employee receives notice of the qualifying event. Further, the employee must provide the employer with at least 48 hours advance notice of their intention to take bereavement leave unless providing notice is not reasonable or practicable.

Employers may instruct employees to provide reasonable documentation of a qualifying event, the employer cannot require the employee to provide documentation identifying which category the leave pertains to. In the event of a death of a covered family member, reasonable documentation includes a death certificate, published obituary, or written verification of death, burial, or memorial services.

Reasonable documentation for covered events relating to pregnancy, adoption, surrogacy, and fertility includes a form provided by the Illinois Department of Labor to be filled out by a healthcare practitioner.

Next steps for employers? All employee handbooks and general employment policies should be revised to reflect changes in the law.