Break Time

Type

reasonable

Description

Employers must provide a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk each time the employee has a need to express milk. The frequency and duration of breaks will vary depending on factors related to the nursing employee and the child. There is no cap on the number of breaks or their length; the standard is 'reasonable' under the circumstances.

Duration Limit

one_year_after_birth

Duration Description

The obligation to provide break time continues for one year after the child's birth.

Compensability

Description

Break time for expressing breast milk is not required to be compensated under the FLSA. However, if the employer already provides compensated break time and the employee uses that break time to express milk, the time must be compensated in the same manner as other employees' break time. Additionally, if the employee is not completely relieved from duty during the break, the time must be compensated as hours worked.

Space Requirements

Must Provide Private Space

Yes

Bathroom Exclusion

A bathroom — even a private or single-occupancy bathroom — does not qualify as an acceptable space under the law.

Requirements

The space must be shielded from view of coworkers and the public, The space must be free from intrusion by coworkers and the public, The space must be functional as a space for expressing breast milk (i.e., available when needed, not merely a theoretical designation)

Additional Considerations

The space may be a temporary space that is made available when needed, provided it meets the statutory requirements when in use, The space does not need to be exclusively dedicated to the nursing employee, but must be available when needed, Employers with multiple nursing employees may need to provide access to multiple spaces or schedule usage, A portable, pop-up enclosure or similar structure in an otherwise open area can satisfy the requirement if it provides the requisite shielding from view and intrusion

Covered Employees

Description

The PUMP Act applies to all employees covered by the FLSA, including exempt and salaried employees. This is a significant expansion over the prior Break Time for Nursing Mothers provision (Section 7(r) of the FLSA), which applied only to non-exempt employees.

Small Employer Exemption

Threshold

50

Description

An employer with fewer than 50 employees is not subject to the space requirement if compliance would impose an undue hardship by causing the employer significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to the size, financial resources, nature, and structure of the employer's business. This is the same undue hardship standard as the prior Section 7(r) provision. The exemption does not apply to the break time requirement, only to the space requirement.

Burden Of Proof

The employer bears the burden of demonstrating that compliance would constitute an undue hardship.

Remedies And Enforcement

Notice Requirement

Before filing a lawsuit, an employee must notify the employer of the alleged failure to comply and provide the employer with 10 days to come into compliance. This notice requirement does not apply if the employee has been discharged for exercising rights under the PUMP Act.

Private Right Of Action

Employees may bring a private action in court beginning April 28, 2023. Remedies include employment, reinstatement, promotion, payment of lost wages and benefits, compensatory damages, and appropriate equitable relief.

Dol Enforcement

The Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division may also enforce the PUMP Act through administrative complaints and investigations.

Retaliation Protection

Description

Employers may not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against an employee because the employee has exercised or attempted to exercise rights under the PUMP Act, including requesting break time or a compliant space.

Remedies for PUMP Act violations include reinstatement, back pay, lost benefits, compensatory damages, and equitable relief such as injunctions. Employers who terminate an employee in retaliation for exercising rights under the PUMP Act are subject to the full range of FLSA remedies, including liquidated damages equal to the amount of unpaid wages or lost compensation. Willful violations are subject to a 3-year statute of limitations rather than the standard 2-year period.

Statute of limitations: 2 years