Key Takeaways

• In 2025, Illinois boosted paid breaks for nursing mothers, NICU leave, and organ donation rights for part-time employees.
• Significant amendments to the Workplace Transparency Act will require new compliance measures for employers.
• New laws have expanded worker rights and hiked penalties for wage violations.
• The state strengthened worker safety, added paid military funeral leave, and increased antidiscrimination penalties.

Employers with Illinois workers should be aware of several new employment laws and amendments to existing laws that were enacted earlier this year. While most take effect on January 1, 2026, a few went into effect upon Governor JB Pritzker’s signature.

Below are summaries of the new laws.

Paid Breaks for Nursing Mothers in the Workplace

Effective: January 1, 2026 | SB 212

SB 212, which implements significant changes to the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act, means that Illinois now joins New York as the second state to require employers to provide paid breaks for nursing employees. Starting January 1, employers will be required to compensate employees for all “reasonable” break time used to express breast milk for up to one year after the child’s birth. The break time must be compensated for at the employee’s regular rate of pay, and employers cannot require the use of paid leave or reduce pay in any other form during this break time.

As originally introduced, SB 212 would have mandated a fixed 30-minute period; however, the final bill...

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