Under the Family and Medical Leave Act an employee is entitled to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave, all at once, or intermittently, for:
the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job;
any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty.”
A “child” need not be the employee’s biological child but simply a child who lives in the employee’s household and for whom the employee functions as a parent.
Military Caregiver Leave
This law allows up to twenty-six workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin to the employee (military caregiver leave).
The following prerequisites must be met before the employer is to provide the leave under the FMLA or the Military Caregiver exception:
Employer must have at least 50 employees within 75 mile radius;
Employee must have been employed at least 12 months; and
Employee must have worked for at least 12 months and 1250 hours (time does not need to be consecutive; breaks in service are okay).
Illinois Family Military Leave Act
This law requires employers with more than 50 employees to grant spouses and parents of military personnel up to 30 days of unpaid leave during the time that federal or state deployment orders are in effect.
Employers that have between 15 and 50 employees are required to provide up to 15 days of unpaid family military leave.