EMPLOYMENT LAW NEWS
Legislative Scoop: Pending Leave Legislation
By Jana Bjorklund, GovDocs Senior Counsel and Director
Employment Law and Compliance
Published June 19, 2025
This month’s Legislative Scoop highlights pending leave laws in Illinois, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. From neonatal intensive care leave in Illinois to statewide paid sick leave proposals in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, employers should monitor these developments closely for potential compliance impacts.
Balancing work and personal life is an ongoing challenge for employees. And the numerous leave laws that employers need to comply with make it challenging for employers to manage. There is always ongoing legislative activity regarding leave laws for employees. This month our legislative scoop will cover pending leave legislation in the states of Illinois, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
Illinois Family Neonatal Intensive Care Act (HB2978)
Illinois has a pending bill (HB2978) which has passed through the Illinois House and is currently in the Senate. It has been placed on the calendar for 2nd and 3rd reading and the bill is still under consideration.
This bill would require both private and state employers with 16 – 50 employees to provide an employee up to 10 unpaid days of leave while their child is a patient in a neonatal intensive care unit. Private and state employers with 51 or more employees would be required to provide up to 20 days of unpaid leave to employees with a child in neonatal care. Under the bill, “child” is defined broadly to include biological, adopted, foster, and other children.
The leave may be taken continually or intermittently, and an employer may require the leave be taken in minimum increments of not less than 2 hours.
As the bill is drafted now, employers may require reasonable verification of the child’s length of stay in the neonatal care unit. And employees utilizing this leave must be reinstated to their former position or a substantially equivalent position with no loss of benefits held or accrued prior to taking leave.
The bill protects employees from adverse actions related to taking this leave and establishes enforcement mechanisms through the Department of Labor, which can investigate violations and impose civil penalties up to $5,000 per affected employee. Employees can file complaints within 60 days of a violation and can seek legal action if their rights are infringed. Additionally, 20% of the penalties collected will be deposited into a new Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Fund to support the act’s enforcement.
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Kentucky Paid Sick Leave
Kentucky has a pending bill (HB 138) that would require employers to provide earned paid sick leave to employees. The paid sick leave starts to accrue upon the date of hire at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Employees would be able to use the paid sick leave after being employed for 90 days.
HB 138, as written, would allow employers with less than 10 employees to cap accrual of paid sick leave to 40 hours annually and limit carryover to 40 hours annually. Employers with more than 10 employees may cap accrued earned sick leave to 72 hours annually and limit carryover to 72 hours annually.
Employees may use earned paid sick leave for their own or a family member’s diagnosis, care or medical treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or other health condition, and time off due to employee or family member being the victim of domestic violence.
Pennsylvania Healthy Employee and Healthy Workplace Act (SB 13)
Pennsylvania has Senate Bill 13 (SB 13) pending which, if passed, would require employers statewide to provide paid sick leave to their employees. As the bill is currently drafted, here are some of the pertinent specifics:
- It would apply to all employers in Pennsylvania
- Employees would accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked
- Employers may cap use of paid sick leave to 56 hours per year
- There is a waiting period of 91 days after start of employment before an employee may use paid sick leave
- Accrued but unused paid sick leave must carry over to the next calendar year
- Employers may cap total accrual of paid sick leave to 80 hours annually
- Employers must provide employees with written notice of their paid sick leave and display a poster that outlines the requirements.
Conclusion
The bills referenced above are all pending and may or may not survive the final legislative process. As such, employers should keep an eye on these jurisdictions to watch for any potential new requirements in the event any of these pending bills are passed into law.
This Employment Law News blog is intended for market awareness only, it is not to be used for legal advice or counsel.
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