Do You Have a Private Lactation Area for New Mothers? #knowppacaorpay

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires certain employers to provide rest breaks and accommodations for employees who are nursing mothers to express breast milk. This requirement took effect immediately upon the ACA’s enactment on March 23, 2010. Under this requirement, employers must provide:

• Reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time the employee has need to express the milk; and
• 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 Department of Labor (DOL)’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), administers and enforces this ACA requirement. Note that, in some cases, state laws may provide greater protections to employees than the ACA. If employers operate in a state where the state law offers greater protections to nursing mothers, those protections must be followed.

Links and Resources

The DOL has a number of resources on their website regarding the requirement to provide breaks for nursing mothers, including:

• Fact Sheet #73: Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA

• FAQs—Break Time for Nursing Mothers