---

Guest post by: Dianne Shaddock Become an Author

Tweet

---

---

Here's an excerpt from a blog post from the website of Phelps Dunbar, Counselors at Law, LLC on changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act, (FLSA), relating to nursing mothers. An amendment to the FLSA requires employers to provide a "reasonable break time" to permit an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child. Specific changes include:

• 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."

• The FLSA requirement of break time for nursing mothers to express breast milk does not preempt State laws that provide greater protections to employees (for example, providing compensated break time, providing break time for exempt employees, or providing break time beyond 1 year after the child's birth).

TIME AND LOCATION OF BREAKS

• Employers are required to provide a reasonable amount of break time to express milk as frequently as needed by the nursing mother. The frequency of breaks needed to express milk as well as the duration of each break will likely vary.

• A bathroom, even if private, is not a permissible location under the Act. The location provided must be functional as a space for expressing breast milk. If the space is not dedicated to the nursing mother's use, it must be available when needed in order to meet the statutory requirement. A space temporarily created or converted into a space for expressing milk or made available when needed by the nursing mother is sufficient provided that the space is shielded from view, and free from any intrusion from co-workers and the public.

COVERAGE AND COMPENSATION

• Only employees who are covered under the FLSA's overtime pay requirements, i.e., hourly employees, 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. Whether compliance would be 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. All employees who work for the covered employer, regardless of work site, are counted when determining whether this exemption may apply.

• Employers are not required under the FLSA to compensate nursing mothers for breaks taken for the purpose of expressing milk. However, where employers already provide compensated breaks, an employee who uses that break time to express milk must be compensated in the same way that other employees are compensated for break time.

• In addition, FLSA's general requirement that an employee must be completely relieved from duty or else the time must be compensated as work time applies.

Related Articles

  Should You Sign A Nursing Home Admission Agreement?
  Why You Need Nursing Home or Long Term Care Coverage
  Working for working mums
  Are you looking for a job with the NHS?
  Work At Home Jobs Equal Freedom for Moms
  I9 Compliance includes Small Businesses Too
  Minimizing Working Mothers’ Sacrifices: The Power of Making Money Online
  ICE Launches Workplace Immigration Crackdown
  Melissa Payner-Gregor on the board of directors of Destination Maternity
  Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE)
  Rehiring After Layoff
  12 Things You May Not Know About Registered Nurses
  Study: Workplace flexibility growing in US
  Team Building Seminars
  Four simple ways to use social media to help your job-hunt
  Why an Outstanding Resume is Not Enough to Get an Interview: Reason 3
  Recourse and Non-Recourse Nurse Staffing Accounts Receivable Factoring: What’s the Difference?
  Federal Minimum Wage Increase
  Private Health Insurance Resources
  How to Explain your Accountabilities in your Resume

Related Forum Posts

Re: Subject line Etiquette
Re: Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas!
Thanks
No B.S. Time Management

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Hire the Best Staff - Part Two 'Selection'

Introvert Myth - Are Only Introverts Shy?

6 Ways To Generate Lucrative Business Ideas

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.