Employment / 2 min read
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued guidance related to the enforcement of the PUMP Act, which became law in 2022 and took effect at the end of April. The PUMP Act serves as an amendment to the Break Time for Nursing Mothers Act enacted in 2010. The recent clarifications provide guidance specific to rules for the break itself, the space in which the break is to take place, and rules for remote workers.
Break Rules
The PUMP Act requires employers to provide a reasonable break each time a nursing employee needs to express milk for one year after the child's birth. There is no maximum number of breaks, so nursing employees may take as many as needed that day. The frequency, duration, and timing of breaks are not the same for each person. They can vary based on factors unique to each employee and child.
Furthermore, employers cannot require nursing workers to make up the time they spent on pump breaks because adding work time to their normal schedule could be considered an adverse action made in retaliation for exercising their lactation rights.
As explained in an article from early this year, time spent pumping milk is considered hours worked if the employee is not completely relieved from work during their break. If a nonexempt employee continues to work or is interrupted during the break, they must be paid for the entire break. Exempt employees receive their full weekly salary, regardless of pumping breaks.
Space Rules
Employers must provide a designated space, other than a bathroom, which is shielded from view and free from intrusion in which the employee can pump. Employers may repurpose a vacant office or storage room with covered windows and a closing door for use by nursing employees. The use of partitions or privacy screens is also valid, as long as the person using the space is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public. The employer can ensure privacy with a door lock or signage that states when the space is in use, the guidance states.
The space must be functional for the employee. Recommendations from the DOL include that “the space provides access to electricity since it generally takes more time to use a battery-operated pump than an electric one. It also recommends that employers provide a location close to a sink to make it easier for employees to wash their hands and clean pump parts, all of which is part of the reasonable break time provided by the PUMP Act."
Remote Workers
Remote workers may take lactation breaks on the same basis as if they were working on site, the guidance states. Like those at the worksite, remote workers have a right to be shielded from view during a pump break. This means that they must be free from observation by any employer-provided or required video system, including a computer camera, security camera, or Web-conferencing platform when they are pumping.