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Illinois NICLA: What Employers Need to Know About Neonatal Intensive Care Leave

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The Illinois Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act (“NICLA”) entitles eligible employees with unpaid, job-protected leave when their child is admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). NICLA took effect on June 1, 2026.

  1. What Are Common Questions Regarding NICLA?

  1. Who is an eligible employee?

Under NICLA, an eligible employee is an employee:

  • Who primarily works in Illinois; and
  • Who is employed by an employer who has 16 or more employees, regardless of how many employees work in Illinois.

NICLA leave is available to employees regardless of their length of employment, part-time or full-time status, or whether they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

  1. What is a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)?

For purposes of NICLA, a NICU is a specialized care unit that provides medical treatment to premature and critically ill infants.

  1. Who is considered a “child”?

For purposes of NICLA, a child means an employee’s son or daughter who is a biological, adopted, or foster child, stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis.

  1. How much leave time is an employee entitled to?
  • Employers with 16 to 50 employees must provide up to 10 days of unpaid leave.
  • Employers with 51 or more employees must provide up to 20 days of unpaid leave.

The leave may be taken intermittently or continuously, and employers may require that leave be taken in minimum increments of not less than 2 hours.

An eligible employee is entitled to up to 20 days of leave, regardless of how many children they have in the NICU. The Illinois Department of Labor has specified that the entitled leave is per employee, not per child.

For example, should an employee deliver twins, NICLA does not provide leave for each child. Rather, it provides employees with a maximum number of days total. As another example, if an employee entitled to 10 days has one child who is a patient in the NICU for 5 days and then has another child who is later a patient in the NICU for 10 days, the employee would only be entitled to a maximum of 10 unpaid NICU leave days.

  1. How Does NICLA Interact with Family and Medical Leave Act?

NICLA leave is separate from, and in addition to, leave provided under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). The Department has provided the following guidance:

  1. Employees are eligible for leave under NICLA, even if FMLA leave is exhausted.
  2. Employees are not required to be eligible for FMLA leave to be eligible for leave under NICLA.
  3. Unlike other leave, employers may not require employees to use NICLA concurrently with FMLA.
  4. Unlike FMLA leave, employers cannot require employees to use any accrued paid time off before taking leave under NICLA.
  5. Employees, however, may choose whether to use paid time off while taking leave under NICLA.
  6. Similar to FMLA leave, employees returning from leave under NICLA must be restored to the same or equivalent position.

  1. How Should Employers Prepare?

To avoid civil penalties of up to $5,000 per incident, Illinois employers should consider the following steps to ensure compliance:

  1. Update employee handbooks to reflect NICLA’s requirements.
  2. Train HR and managers on employee’s rights to leave under NICLA, including instructing managers and supervisors on how to process these leave requests and emphasize strict anti-retaliation requirements.
  3. Track NICLA separately from FMLA and other state leaves.

While not mandated by NICLA, employers may request reasonable medical documentation proving the child’s NICU admission and stay length. However, because NICLA is silent on what “reasonable” means, employers should use caution when requesting medical documentation.

Guidance

Illinois employers are advised to reach out to an employment attorney for assistance regarding this guidance. At Reno & Zahm, we are proud to represent individuals and businesses in Northern Illinois for over 100 years. Our professionals regularly counsel clients on a large variety of employment matters, including discrimination matters. Contact us today at (815) 987-4050 to schedule a consultation.

This posting is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice. As the facts and circumstances of each employer are unique, the information provided herein should not be used or relied upon without first consulting a lawyer.