Illinois bereavement leave, meal break and rest period law changes take effect January 1, 2023. GCT’s Employment Law Group is available to help you update your policies to ensure compliance with these new requirements. The Illinois Department of Labor likely will issue regulations providing guidance on how these new laws will be enforced in the near future. We will provide updates on the latest developments as they become available.

Employee Bereavement Leave

Child Bereavement Leave Act no longer limited to death of a child; expanded to other family members, and failed pregnancies and adoptions.

The Child Bereavement Leave Act has been renamed the "Family Bereavement Leave Act."

Employees can take 10 work days of unpaid leave annually to grieve:

• the death of a “covered family member,” defined as the employee’s child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent or stepparent;
• miscarriages; unsuccessful reproductive technology procedures; failed adoption matches; adoptions not finalized due to being contested by another party; failed surrogacy agreements; diagnoses negatively impacting pregnancy or fertility; and stillbirths.

Employers seeking reasonable documentation of a pregnancy or adoption bereavement leave must use a form published by the Illinois Department of Labor.

Meal Periods and Days of Rest

One Day Rest in Seven Act expanded to provide additional meal period, day of rest and notice requirements, and excludes employees where meal periods and days of rest are established by a collective bargaining agreement.

• Current law requires a 20-minute meal break no later than 5 hours after the start of a 7.5 continuous hour shift.
• Amended law requires subsequent, minimum 20-minute, meal breaks for every additional 4.5 continuous hours worked beyond the first 7.5 continuous hour shift.
• Employer cannot designate an employee’s “reasonable amount of time using the restroom facilities” as a meal period.
• Current law requires that employees be provided at least 24 consecutive hours of rest in a calendar week.
• Amended law requires that employees be provided with 24 consecutive hours of rest in every consecutive seven-day period.
• Employers must post a notice in their workplaces providing employees with the requirements of the Illinois One Day Rest in Seven Act and information on how to file a complaint.
• Employers with remote workers must provide the notice to its remote workers by email or on an internal website used by the employer to communicate work-related information.

If you have questions about any of the employment law updates in this alert or their potential impact, please do not hesitate to contact the author of this alert, Margherita M. Albarello, or any attorney in GCT’s Employment Law Group.