DOL releases fact sheet on break time for nursing mothers under the FLSA

For immediate release - August 5, 2010

For more information, contact Michelle Pedzich at 585-381-8340 ext. 123

The Department of Labor recently released a new fact sheet providing general information on the break time requirement for nursing mothers. This update is in response to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which went into effect on March 23, 2010, amending Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Under the new law, employers are required to provide “reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk.”  Employers are also required to provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.”

Only employees who are not exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements are entitled to breaks to express milk.  While employers are not required under the FLSA to provide breaks to nursing mothers who are exempt from the overtime pay requirements of Section 7, they may be obligated to provide such breaks under State laws.

Employers with fewer than 50 employees are not subject to the FLSA break time requirement if compliance with the provision would impose an undue hardship.

Please click here to view the fact sheet.

Sources: Department of Labor

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