Final Regulations: Break Times for Nursing Mothers at Work
Posted on August 06, 2010
The Wage and Hour Division under the FLSA (Federal Labor Standards Act) recently created its final Fact Sheet regarding break times for nursing mothers at work, a subsection of the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). In summary:
- Employers are required to provide reasonable break times for mothers to express breast milk for up to 1 year after their nursing child is born. (To determine what’s “reasonable,” consider how often smoke or coffee breaks are allowed. Most mothers need at least 15-30 minutes every 2-3 hours to express milk.)
- A bathroom is not an acceptable location under the Act. An appropriate location must have space shielded from view and free from intrusion from both co-workers and the public.
- Only non-exempt employees (oftentimes referred to as “hourly” employees, although some “salaried” employees may also be included) are entitled to breaks to express milk.
- Break times do not have to be compensated. However, if paid breaks are already provided, employees are allowed to express milk during those paid break times.
- If the employee is not completely relieved of duties while expressing milk, the employee must be paid as time worked.
Employers with less than 50 employees are not subject to these regulations if compliance would create an undue hardship to the company. For more information, visit http://www.wagehour.dol.gov or contact your Human Resources Consultant at 888-810-8187.
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