Workplace Protections

Your employer must let you take time off from work to do the any of the following things, if they are related to domestic, sexual, or gender violence, or a “crime of violence” for you or a family/household member:

• to get an order of protection;
• to get medical help – for example, to see a doctor, mental health counselor, or health care professional, to take care of injuries or health problems caused by domestic, sexual, or gender violence;
• to get legal help – for example, to go to court, prepare for court, testify in court, or to seek help from lawyers or legal counseling;
• to seek domestic, sexual, or gender violence services – for example, going to a domestic violence shelter, domestic or sexual violence program or rape crisis center, etc.; 
• to plan for your safety – for example, to participate in safety planning, temporarily or permanently relocate to other housing, or take other actions to increase the safety of you or your family/ household member from future domestic, sexual, or gender violence or ensure economic security;
• to attend the funeral, memorial, wake, or similar ceremony of a family or household member who is killed in a crime of violence; 
• to make arrangements related to the death of a family or household member who is killed in a crime of violence; or
• to grieve the death of a family or household member who is killed in a crime of violence.¹

¹ See 820 ILCS § 180/20(a)