Effective January 1, 2023 The Illinois legislature has adopted changes to the former Child Bereavement Leave Act that expand the scope of the law for Illinois workers at companies with over 50 employees.
Availability of Unpaid Leave
Employees may use up to 10 days of unpaid bereavement leave to do the following:
– Attend the funeral of a covered family member
– Make arrangements necessitated by the death of a covered family member
– Grieve the death of a covered family member.
– Be absent from work due to one of the following event [Employers may not require employees to identify which category of event the leave pertains to as a condition of obtaining leave under the FBLA]:
– An unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or of an assisted reproductive technology procedure.
– A failed adoption match or an adoption that is not finalized because it is contested by another party.
– A failed surrogacy agreement.
– A diagnosis that negatively affects pregnancy or fertility.
– A stillbirth.
A covered family member includes an employee’s child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or a stepparent.
Bereavement leave must be completed within 60 days after the date on which the employee receives notice of the qualifying event listed above. The employee must provide the Company with at least 48 hours advance notice of their intention to take bereavement leave unless providing notice is not reasonable and practicable.
Reasonable Documentation for Bereavement Leave Requests
An employee seeking a bereavement leave of absence is required to provide reasonable documentation when requesting leave. 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 related to pregnancy, adoption, surrogacy, and fertility includes a form provided by the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) to be filled out by a healthcare practitioner. https://labor.illinois.gov/contact/dam/soi/en/web/idol/laws-rules/conmed/documents/family-bereavement-leave-act-form.pdf