SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — The Family Bereavement Leave Act will go into effect in Illinois on Jan. 1, 2023, expanding unpaid leave rights for employees across the state.

The Family Bereavement Leave Act (FBLA) is an amendment to the Child Bereavement Leave Act (CBLA) which expands leave time requirements to cover pregnancy loss, failed adoptions or surrogacy agreements, unsuccessful reproductive procedures, and other diagnoses or events negatively impacting pregnancy or fertility.

FBLA also requires employers to provide leave time after the loss of family members previously not covered by the CBLA, including spouses, domestic partners, siblings, grandparents, and stepparents.

Employees can now take up to two weeks or 10 work day of unpaid leave covered by FBLA to attend a funeral or to make arrangements after the death of a family member.

Employers can require documentation, including death certificates, published obituaries, and documentation from an adoption or surrogacy organization, to certify that an employee is requesting for leave that is covered by FBLA.

A bereavement leave form is available online that may be used as reasonable documentation.

“Workers who experience the death of a loved one or other kinds of loss such as a miscarriage or a failed adoption should be able to grieve without the fear of losing their job,” said Illinois Department of Labor Acting Director Jane Flanagan. “The Family Bereavement Leave Act ensures that those workers will be afforded time off from work to process that grief.”