Effective July 1, 2018, the State of Illinois amended The Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act (820 ILCS 260/10) via Public Act 100-1003. The amendment requires that Illinois employers provide paid breaks to mothers who breastfeed or express milk at work. The Act previously required that Illinois employers provide “reasonable unpaid break time” to employees. Essentially, the breaks are going from unpaid to paid.
The updated provisions for this leave can be found on the System Human Resources website at https://www.hr.uillinois.edu/leave/other/nursing/. Updates to Policy and Rules for Civil Service Staff to reflect this change will be forthcoming.
If you have any questions about these changes or how to administer this leave, please contact your university or system human resources office.
Jami M. Painter, Ed.M., SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Interim Associate Vice President for System Human Resource Services