Illinois Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act

Automatic: System handles this automatically, no action needed

Manual Action or Tracking Required: User must complete this action or track elsewhere

Configuration Note: How the policy is set up in the platform.

Best Practice: AbsenceSoft recommendation for optimal management

Configuration Note: This policy is configured for the following absence reasons: Adoption/Foster Care, Bonding, and Pregnancy/Maternity. All three absence reasons share the same per-case entitlement structure.

Configuration Note: This policy is configured to run Consecutive To: FMLA and/or FMLA-Flight Crew policies, meaning it is designed to run after FMLA leave is exhausted for FMLA-eligible employees. For employees who are not FMLA-eligible, the IL-NICU policy will run independently.

Configuration Note: AbsenceSoft's IL-NICU policy is configured with a minimum eligibility threshold of 16 active employees in Illinois work state. The entitlement adjusts automatically based on whether the employer has 16–50 or 51+ active employees in the work state.

Manual Action Required: Manually override eligibility for employees of excluded employers.

Manual Action Required: This policy must be manually added to qualifying cases.

Automatic: AbsenceSoft automatically generates a todo on Pregnancy, Bonding, and Adoption cases in Illinois to ask:

• Was child in NICU during a period when FMLA was exhausted or not eligible?

  • if yes, the todo prompts you to manually add the Illinois Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave policy to the case

This workflow only generates on case creation (not for case extensions). Therefore, it is recommended that if the child has not been admitted to the NICU as of case creation the question ToDo remains open/unanswered to re-evaluate in the event that the leave gets extended and circumstances change in the future.

Best Practice: Per-case configuration does not prevent an employee from opening multiple cases for the same NICU situation or child back to back. Employers should ensure the employee is taking leave for a different child or a new qualifying NICU admission for each new case to prevent overentitlement.

Best Practice: The maximum leave available is up to 10 or 20 workdays (based on employer size). If the child is discharged be from NICU care before the entitlement is exhausted, the leave should end at discharge. Employees are entitled only to the lesser of the maximum or the actual length of the child’s NICU stay. Document verification in case notes.

Manual Action Required: If the child is discharged from the NICU before the entitlement is fully used, end or deny the remaining leave accordingly. The platform will not automatically end leave based on NICU discharge.

Manual Action Required: If your organization chooses to enforce a 2-hour minimum increment for intermittent NICU leave, this restriction must be tracked manually. Review intermittent leave requests against this threshold manually and deny any instances that fall below the minimum.

Automatic: The IL-NICU policy is configured to run Consecutive To: FMLA and FMLA-Flight Crew policies to enforce this sequencing for FMLA-eligible employees. This policy will only apply when FMLA is not eligible or exhausted.

Configuration Note: AbsenceSoft does not provide core paperwork specific to this law. No certification form or notice to employee is required by statute. Once the policy is added to the case the communications will show the policy status giving insights to employees on which law applies to them.

Manual Action Required: The IL-NICU policy must be manually added to new qualifying cases with an absence reason of Adoption/Foster Care, Bonding, or Pregnancy/Maternity as of June 1, 2026.

Automatic: AbsenceSoft automatically generates a todo on Pregnancy, Bonding, and Adoption cases in Illinois to ask:

• Was child in NICU during a period when FMLA was exhausted or not eligible?

  • if yes, the todo prompts you to manually add the Illinois Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave policy to the case

    

• This workflow only generates on case creation (not for case extensions). Therefore, it is recommended that if the child has not been admitted to the NICU as of case creation the question ToDo remains open/unanswered to re-evaluate in the event that the leave gets extended and circumstances change in the future.

Manual Action Required: Review all active Illinois cases with the absence reasons below to identify cases that span June 1, 2026 and may now qualify for IL-NICU coverage:

Best Practice: Document in case notes:

Best Practice: Proactively communicate with employees whose cases span the effective date. Employees with a child still in the NICU on or after June 1, 2026 may be newly entitled to additional job-protected leave under this law.

Manual Tracking Required: Create a list of all potentially eligible in-flight cases before June 1, 2026 to ensure none are missed.