Protecciones en el Lugar de Trabajo

Si su empleador/a emplea 50 o más empleados/as, usted puede tomarse un total de 12 semanas de trabajo de tiempo libre durante cualquier período de 12 meses. Si su empleador/a emplea desde 15 hasta 49 empleados/as, usted puede tomarse un total de ocho semanas de trabajo de tiempo libre durante cualquier período de 12 meses. Si su empleador/a emplea desde uno/a hasta 14 empleados/as, usted puede tomarse un total de cuatro semanas de trabajo de tiempo libre durante cualquier período de 12 meses. Sin embargo, si ya se tomó 12 semanas de tiempo libre bajo la ley federal de Ausencia Familiar y Médica (“Family and Medical Leave Act”), esta ley no permite que se tome tiempo libre adicional.¹ Las semanas pueden tomarse de forma consecutiva, intermitente o las puede usar para trabajar a tiempo parcial.² If you are dealing with a death in your family as a result of a crime of violence, the Illinois workplace protections law referred to throughout this section allows you to take up to two weeks, or ten work-days, of unpaid bereavement leave specifically for:

1. going to a funeral, or an alternative to a funeral or wake;
2. making necessary arrangements after the death; or
3. grieving.³

To qualify, you must take this leave within 60 days of when you learn of your family member’s death.⁴

On a related note, Illinois has another law called the Family Bereavement Leave Act (“FBLA”) that applies if you have worked for your employer for at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months. The FBLA allows you to use a two-week unpaid bereavement leave for the death of a family member for the three reasons described above and within the 60-day time period. The FBLA can be used up to three times per year if you suffer the deaths of multiple family members. FBLA leave may also be used after a stillbirth, miscarriage, unsuccessful reproductive procedure, unfinished adoption or surrogacy, or a diagnosis that negatively impacts fertility or a pregnancy.⁵ For additional information about the FBLA, see Family Bereavement Leave Act FAQs on the Illinois government website.

It’s important to know that taking bereavement leave under the FBLA will not decrease the available four to 12 weeks described above for dealing with incidents of domestic violence or any crime of violence for the first five reasons laid out in What actions, specifically, can I use my time off from work to do?⁶ This means that you could end up taking up to 18 unpaid weeks in one year if, for example, you have to deal with three different deaths and you also work for a large employer, and you need to take 12 weeks off to go to court to address domestic violence.

Note: You cannot take two weeks of unpaid bereavement time under the FBLA and then claim an additional two weeks under the workplace protections law described at the beginning of this question. The two weeks available under these sections of the law will be the same two weeks if you qualify under both.⁷

Usted también puede usar tiempo libre de forma remunerada, días personales, vacaciones, días por enfermedad, etc., en vez de tomar tiempo libre de forma no remunerada pero no se puede requerir que lo use; es su opción si usted quiere usar tiempo libre de forma remunerada o no remunerada.⁸

¹ 820 ILCS § 180/20(a)(2)​
² 820 ILCS § 180/20(a)(3)​
³ 820 ILCS §§ 154/10(a)(1)-(3); 180/20(a)(1)(F)-(H)
⁴ ​820 ILCS § 180/20(a)(4)
⁵ 820 ILCS §§ 154/10(a), (b), (e); 154/5
⁶ 820 ILCS § 180/20(a)(4)(B)
⁷ ​820 ILCS § 180/20(a)(4)(A)
⁸ 820 ILCS § 180/25