Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers
Employers are required to provide breaks for nursing mothers and a private place to express breast milk under a provision within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that amends section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Guidance recently provided by the US Department of Labor specifies the following requirements:
Employers are required to provide “reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one (1) year after the child’s birth each time such employee has a need to express milk.” The frequency and duration of such breaks will likely vary.
Employers are required to provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, for use by the employee to express breast milk.” The location provided must be a functional space for expressing milk. If the space is not dedicated for the nursing mother’s use, it must be available when needed in order to meet the laws requirements.
The law applies only to nonexempt employees – those who are paid hourly and entitled to overtime pay when applicable. Employers are not required to compensate nursing mothers for breaks taken for the purpose of expressing breast milk unless the employer already provides compensated breaks; if so, an employee who uses that break time to express milk must be compensated in the same fashion that other employees are compensated for break time.
Employers with fewer than 50 employees are not subject to the laws break time to express milk requirement if doing so would pose an undue hardship. Whether compliance is an undue hardship is determined by looking at the difficulty or expense of compliance for a specific employer in comparison to the size, financial resources, nature, and structure of the employer’s business.
To view the Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet regarding Break Time for Nursing Mothers which provides regulatory guidance click here.
As always, we’re available to assist you with compliance with the provisions of this legislation. Please feel free to contact us at (239) 939-2210.
