Illinois: Lactation Break and Space Requirements

Requirements one by one

Illinois adds paid breaks to the federal floor

The Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act supplies Illinois's direct pumping-
break rule. Its current § 10, effective January 1, 2026, requires compensation
at the employee's regular rate and bars requiring paid leave or reducing pay in
another way. Federal § 218d separately supplies reasonable needed time and a
non-bathroom space for one year after birth and preserves stronger state rules:

Nothing in this section shall preempt a State law or municipal ordinance that
provides greater protections to employees than the protections provided for
under this section.

That preservation clause is codified at federal § 218d(h).

Coverage depends on which duty is at issue

The paid-break and reasonable-efforts space duties in 820 ILCS 260 apply to an
employer with “more than 5 employees,” excluding the listed immediate-family
members from the count. The definition includes the State, its agencies, and
political subdivisions.

The Human Rights Act uses a different threshold for a pregnancy claim. Section
2-101(B) includes a person employing one or more employees when the alleged
violation is based on pregnancy, as well as government employers regardless of
headcount, subject to the Act's stated exclusions. This means a one-to-five-
employee employer may fall outside 820 ILCS 260 but still owe a requested
private non-bathroom accommodation under § 2-102(J).

The break is needed-time based and lasts one year

Section 10 requires reasonable break time “each time the employee has the need
to express milk” for one year after birth. It permits, but does not require,
the pumping time to run concurrently with a break the employer already
provides. The statute does not set a fixed number of daily breaks or a fixed
number of minutes per break.

Illinois now requires pay at the regular rate

The current pay language is direct:

An employer shall compensate the employee during the break time at the
employee's regular rate of compensation.

The employer also may not require the employee to use paid leave or reduce
compensation in another manner. The duty is subject to the statutory undue-
hardship standard. Separately, federal § 218d(b) treats the full break as hours
worked if the employee is not completely relieved from duty.

The two Illinois space provisions use different bathroom language

Section 15 requires reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location
close to the work area, “other than a toilet stall,” where milk can be expressed
in privacy. The Human Rights Act's accommodation list is broader on this point:
it expressly names a “private non-bathroom space for expressing breast milk and
breastfeeding.” The federal floor also excludes a bathroom and requires the
space to be shielded from view and free from intrusion.

Illinois does not prescribe a room equipment checklist

The ordinary-employer provisions do not require a specified chair, pump
surface, outlet, sink, running water, refrigerator, or cooler. Section 15 speaks
to reasonable efforts, proximity, the toilet-stall exclusion, and privacy;
§ 2-102(J) identifies private non-bathroom space and lists possible workplace
adjustments without creating a lactation-room equipment list. The federal
functional-space floor still applies where federal coverage exists.

A Human Rights Act accommodation requires a process

Section 2-102(J) begins with the applicant's or employee's request. An employer
may seek health-care-provider documentation only to the same extent as for a
disability-related condition and only when the request is job-related and
consistent with business necessity. The parties then must engage in a “timely,
good faith, and meaningful exchange” to identify an effective accommodation.
The employer bears the burden of proving undue hardship.

Section 2-102(K) separately requires the Department-approved rights notice in a
customary conspicuous posting location and requires the information in any
employee handbook. Neither 820 ILCS 260 nor these provisions state a fixed
number of days for responding to an individual pumping-space request.

Accommodation retaliation and Human Rights Act remedies are express

Section 6-101(A) bars retaliation because a person requested, tried to request,
used, or tried to use a reasonable accommodation. IDHR's current filer page
says most cases must be filed within two years of the discrimination. The
Human Rights Act process can lead to Commission proceedings or a circuit-court
action, and § 8A-104 authorizes relief that can include actual damages,
reinstatement or hiring with or without back pay, attorney fees and costs, and
other make-whole relief.

The short Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act itself contains definitions,
break, space, and effective-date sections but no express standalone private-
action or penalty section. HB 3192 would add an injunction and prevailing-
employee fee route if enacted.

What trips people up

The six-employee threshold is not the whole Illinois answer. It controls
the direct paid-break act. The Human Rights Act's pregnancy-accommodation rule
can reach a one-employee employer and expressly lists private non-bathroom
space, so coverage must be checked duty by duty.

“Other than a toilet stall” does not make any bathroom federally compliant.
Section 15 uses the narrower toilet-stall phrase, while the Human Rights Act and
federal law both say non-bathroom space. An employer covered by either broader
rule cannot rely on a non-stall part of a bathroom.

The construction bill is not current law. SB 3465 passed both houses and
was sent to the Governor on June 29, 2026, but the official bill page listed no
Governor action or Public Act number on August 1. Its lockable-space,
refrigeration, water-source, retaliation, inspection, and penalty rules would
be construction-industry duties effective January 1, 2027 only if enacted.

Common questions

Must every Illinois pumping break be exactly 30 minutes?

No. Current § 10 requires reasonable time each time needed. HB 2522 proposes a
30-minute paid block, but it remains in the House Rules Committee and is not
current law.

Can an employer make the employee use PTO for the break?

Not under the current paid-break rule. Section 10 says the employer may not
require paid leave during the break and may not reduce compensation in another
way.

Does Illinois require a dedicated lactation room?

No dedicated-room language appears in the ordinary-employer provisions. The
location must satisfy the applicable privacy, proximity, and bathroom rules,
but the statutes do not say it must be used only for lactation.

Statutes and sources

• 820 ILCS 260/5, /10, /15 — coverage, paid needed breaks, duration, and
  private close-proximity space.

  An employer shall compensate the employee during the break time at the
  employee's regular rate of compensation. An employer shall not require the
  employee to use paid leave during the break time or reduce the employee's
  compensation during the break time in any other manner.

Official source: https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=2429&ChapterID=68&Chapter=EMPLOYMENT&MajorTopic=BUSINESS%20AND%20EMPLOYMENT&Print=True (accessed 2026-07-21)
- 775 ILCS 5/1-103(L-5), 2-101(B), 2-102(J), 2-102(K), 6-101(A), and
8A-104 — pregnancy definition, coverage, accommodation, notice,
retaliation, and relief.

The employee and employer shall engage in a timely, good faith, and
meaningful exchange to determine effective reasonable accommodations.

Official sources: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/077500050K1-103.htm, https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/077500050K2-101.htm, https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/077500050K2-102.htm, https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/077500050K6-101.htm, and https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/077500050K8A-104.htm (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Illinois Department of Human Rights, For Filers — current charge-filing
deadline.

Most cases need to be filed within 2 years of when the discrimination
happened

Official source: https://dhr.illinois.gov/charge-process/filers.html (accessed 2026-07-21)
- 29 U.S.C. § 218d(a), (b), (h) — federal time, space, hours-worked, and
greater-protection rules.

An employer shall provide—(1) a reasonable break time for an employee to
express breast milk for such employee's nursing child for 1 year after the
child's birth each time such employee has need to express the milk; and (2)
a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from
intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee
to express breast milk.

Official source: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title29-section218d&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-21)