A recent First District Illinois Appellate Court ruling in the case of Lara Stachler v. The Board of Education of the City of Chicago, 2023 IL App (1st) 221092, rejected the plaintiff-appellant’s assertion that the Illinois Human Rights Act entitles an employee to accommodations for pregnancy-related medical conditions even when the accommodation would preclude the employee from performing the essential functions of her job. The court further held that an employee must advise her employer when an employer-provided private room to breastfeed or express breastmilk is inadequate.
Upon return from maternity leave to her work as a speech-language pathologist with