Four States Enact Changes to Existing Leave Laws

Several states have recently made amendments or changes to their employee leave of absence laws. Outlined below are the pertinent details and effective date for each impacted state.

Illinois: Effective Aug. 1, 2025

Illinois has amended its existing Family Military Leave Act, now known as the Military Leave Act, to add a new form of paid leave for funeral honors details. Funeral honors detail is defined as an honor guard provided for the funeral of any veteran of the armed forces, in compliance with federal law and associated regulations.

Eligible employees may use up to eight hours per calendar month to participate in a funeral honors detail — up to a total of 40 hours per calendar year or more — if authorized by the employer or if provided for in a collective bargaining agreement.

Oregon: Effective Sept. 26, 2025

Under the Oregon Family Leave Act, or OFLA, one of the permissible leave reasons is to care for a child who is suffering from an illness, injury or condition that requires home care or who requires home care due to the closure of the child’s school or child care provider due to a public health emergency. Leave for this reason can only be taken for a child of the employee who is one of the following:

• Under the age of 18
• Substantially limited by a physical or mental impairment as described by Oregon law

The employee notice requirements of the law have also been modified. Employees now have the ability to start taking leave without prior notice for the closure of the school or child care provider of the employee’s child due to a public health emergency, unless the emergency declaration was issued by the governor at least 30 days before the commencement of the leave.

One OFLA provision indicates that employees who worked an average of fewer than 25 hours per week during the 180 days immediately preceding a leave are ineligible. However, it was amended to allow special rules for airline flight crew employees based in Oregon and subject to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA. They will now be eligible for OFLA if they meet the hours-of-service requirement under FMLA.

Maryland: Effective Oct. 1, 2025

The Maryland Parental Leave Act provides six workweeks of unpaid parental leave during a 12-month period for the birth of a child or the placement of a child for adoption or foster care. However, this law currently only applies to employers who employ at least 15, but not more than 49, employees in Maryland each working day during each of 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding year. This definition has been amended to also require that the employer not be covered under the FMLA for the current calendar year.

Nevada: Effective Oct. 1, 2025

Nevada has added a new unpaid leave of absence law for members of the Nevada wing of the Civil Air Patrol. Employees are entitled to 10 workdays during each fiscal year for training for emergency missions and 30 workdays for responding to an emergency mission as a volunteer.

If you have any questions or would like additional information regarding these laws, including how The Standard can help with compliance support, please contact your account manager or a representative near you.