(410 ILCS 37/10.5) (This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date) Sec. 10.5. Sanitary conditions for construction workers who menstruate, express milk, or both. (a) Within 6 months after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly, employers in the construction industry shall comply with this Section. (b) Employers in the construction industry shall provide their workers who menstruate, who are performing construction activities on a construction site, and whose jobs do not inherently limit their presence on the work site to 2 days or less with the following minimum sanitary conditions: (1) access, on the construction site, either to: (A) a minimum size bathroom that can include a standard sized portable chemical toilet and that can be secured with a latch upon entry; or (B) a permanent structure with a bathroom with toileting facilities that can be secured with a latch upon entry; (2) an adequate amount of time to accommodate for multiple layers of clothing while using the bathroom; and (3) a sufficient amount or supply of menstrual hygiene products that are available at no cost to the workers and are: (A) located, for construction sites with fewer than 10 workers, in all gender-neutral bathrooms; (B) located, for construction sites with 10 or more workers, in bathrooms that are designated for workers who menstruate and that are marked with exterior signage that identifies the class of individuals who shall have access; or (C) provided in kits for each employee who needs the products. As used in this subsection (b), "a sufficient amount or supply of menstrual hygiene products" means at least 10 units of the products. (c) Employers in the construction industry shall provide their workers who are lactating and performing construction activities on a construction site with lactation accommodations upon request as needed to express breast milk unless doing so constitutes an undue hardship. Lactation accommodations under this Section may include: (1) a flexible work schedule, including scheduling breaks that provide time for expressing breast milk; (2) a location, other than the bathroom, that is convenient and sanitary for the employee to express breast milk, that is private and lockable from the inside, and that is identified by exterior signage that designates who shall have access; (3) convenient hygienic refrigeration on the construction site for the storage of milk; and (4) a convenient water source that is in a private location near the location where the breast milk is expressed and that is available for the employee's use to clean and wash hands and wash milk expression equipment. (d) Compliance with minimum lactation accommodations under this Section does not relieve employers from compliance with the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act or the Illinois Human Rights Act. (e) On multiemployer construction sites, each employer is responsible for ensuring that facilities for their own employees are provided either directly or through agreement with the prime contractor or the owner's representative of a temporary building or building under construction. (f) For purposes of this Section, "undue hardship" means an action that is prohibitively expensive or disruptive when considered in light of the following factors: (i) the nature and cost of the accommodation needed; (ii) the overall financial resources of the facility or facilities involved in the provision of the lactation accommodation, the number of persons employed at the facility, the effect on expenses and resources, or the impact of the accommodation upon the operation of the facility; (iii) the overall financial resources of the employer, the overall size of the business of the employer with respect to the number of its employees, and the number, type, and location of its facilities; (iv) the type of operation or operations of the employer, including the composition, structure, and functions of the workforce of the employer and the geographic, administrative, or fiscal relationship of the facility or facilities in question to the employer; and (v) whether making the accommodation would create dangerous conditions risking the health and safety of employees, or would unreasonably disrupt the operations and completion of the project at the construction site. The employer has the burden of proving undue hardship. The fact that the employer provides or would be required to provide a similar accommodation to similarly situated employees creates a rebuttable presumption that the accommodation does not impose an undue hardship on the employer. (g) On or before January 1, 2027, the Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Department of Human Rights, shall provide guidance to employers via a website or other means concerning lactation accommodations.
(Source: P.A. 104-850, eff. 1-1-27.)