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The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act was signed into law back on December 29 of 2022. The Act amended the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by extending protections to employees in need of expressing milk while at work. Furthermore, the PUMP Act broadened the remedies available when an employer is in violation of the Act’s protections. To be clear, the PUMP Act is intended to help ensure those who need to express breastmilk at work are properly accommodated by their employers. Employers and employees alike should be aware of the rights and responsibilities extended by the PUMP Act. Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (DOL) released guidance on the PUMP Act requirements in June of this year.
The PUMP Act: What Employees and Employers
DOL’s guidance regarding changes made by the PUMP Act is important to review, as it can shed light on the expansion of workers’ rights contained in the Act itself. For starters, let’s take a look at the break times employers are obliged to extend to workers who need to express milk at work. Employers must provide these employees with a reasonable break time for up to one year after the birth of a child every time the employee needs to express milk.
An employer cannot deny a covered employee this break time to pump. The specifics of frequency and duration as well as the timing of these breaks will vary based on a number of factors that focus on the needs of the nursing employee, the child, and the lactation space. The guidance does mention that pumping breaks can adhere to a fixed schedule if agreed upon by the employer and employee and if such a schedule suits the needs of the employee. Also, remote employees may take pump breaks as well if they are working on-site.
The DOL guidance also delves into the lactation space provisions of the PUMP Act. You see, employers must provide pumping employees with a space to pump. This space cannot be a bathroom and must be shielded from view and free from intrusion from both the public and coworkers. The space must be available to the employee every time they need to pump and must be a “functional space for pumping.” More specifically, the space must have a place to sit and a flat surface, other than the floor, for the employee to place the pump. Employers also need to have a space where the employee can safely store the milk, such as a refrigerator.
The PUMP Act also amended the FLSA to provide employees with a private right of action. This means that employees who have not been properly accommodated by their employees under the PUMP Act can seek legal and equitable damages. This right and those remedies are available to the employee regardless of whether or not they have experienced retaliation.
New Jersey Employment Law Attorneys
Employers need to be mindful of the PUMP Act requirements and take steps to ensure that they are granting complying break times for pumping employees and have lactation spaces that are in compliance as well. If you are working for an employer who has not properly accommodated your needs to pump at work, reach out to the team at Castronovo & McKinney. Contact us today.