Women's Economic Security Act

Workplace provisions supporting pregnant,

lactating employees

David Skovholt | Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI)

Training topics

• What does Labor Standards do?

• Nursing mothers and lactating employees

• Pregnancy and parental leave

• Pregnancy accommodations

• Paid family and medical leave

• Resources

Labor standards enforced by DLI

• Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act

• Women’s Economic Security Act

• Child Labor Standards Act

• Minnesota Prevailing Wage Act

• Wage Theft Prevention Act

• Other laws related to employment,

wages, conditions, hours.

Labor Standards services and process

• Investigations

• Wage claim

• Inform and educate

• Investigation

• Education and outreach

• Technical assistance

• Training

• Videos

• Website and materials

Nursing mothers: Minnesota Statute § 181.939

• Employers who employ at least

one person

must:

• provide reasonable break time for

nursing mothers to express milk; and

• make reasonable efforts to provide

space other than a bathroom that is

shielded from view and free from

intrusion that includes access to an

electrical outlet.

• Anti-retaliation

• Employers are prohibited from

retaliating against an employee for

asserting rights under this law.

Nursing mothers protections

• Updated nursing mothers protections (2021 and 2023 sessions):

• No reduction to compensation for time used for expressing milk.

• Break times to express milk regardless of the child’s age.

• Requiring lactation spaces be “clean, private and secure.”

• Employee break times to express milk regardless of whether the

break time would unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.

Nursing mothers protections, continued

• Ensuring employees can choose when to take break time to

express milk, regardless of if the break time aligns with already

provided breaks.

• Requiring employers provide a written notice to employees of

their right to express milk and receive pregnancy accommodations

at the time of hire and publish these rights in the employee

handbook (sample notice available on DLI website).

• Example case: Technician scheduled back-to-back-to-back

appointments.

Pregnancy and parental leave

Up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during

or following pregnancy for prenatal

care, pregnancy or related health

conditions, childbirth or adoption,

or bonding time by a birthing or non-

birthing parent.

2023 session update:

• All employees, regardless of employer

size or how long they have been

employed, have a right to unpaid

leave during or following a pregnancy.

Pregnancy accommodations

• Employers must provide “reasonable

accommodation” to employees with health

conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth

• The following are required employer

accommodations:

• more frequent restroom, food and water

breaks;

• seating; and

• limits on lifting over 20 pounds.

• Additional accommodations may be

reasonable depending on the situation,

including temporary transfer to a less

strenuous position.

Pregnancy accommodations, continued

• Employer cannot require an employee to take or accept pregnancy

accommodations

• Employers are prohibited from retaliating against an employee for asserting rights

under this law

• 2023 session update:

• All employees, regardless of employer size or how long they have been employed, have a

right to pregnancy accommodations.

• Example case: Assembly worker not allowed seating.

Paid family and medical leave

Paid family and medical leave is a new

program launching for Minnesotans in

2026. It provides paid leave when:

• a serious health condition prevents an

employee from working;

• an employee needs time to care for a

family member or a new child; and

• an employee needs to tend to certain

military-related events or personal safety

issues.

Additional information is available on the

Minnesota Department of Employment and

Economic Development’s paid family and

medical leave page

Paid family and medical leave, continued

DLI will enforce the employment

protections in the bill, including:

• employee right to reinstatement after

leave;

• employers may not retaliate against

an employee for requesting or

obtaining benefits;

• employee right to continued

insurance during leave; and

• agreements to waive paid family and

medical leave rights are void.

Resources

• Employee-focused brochures in four

languages: david.skovholt@state.mn.us.

• Informational videos in four languages.

• dli.mn.gov/newparents

(WESA landing

page).

• WESA engagement and education grant

• Sign up for The Wage and Hour Bulletin on

our website.

• Contact DLI’s Labor Standards at 651-284-

5075 or dli.laborstandards@state.mn.us

Breastfeeding support in the workplace

Holly Glaubitz

Workplace Wellness Coordinator | Minnesota Department of Health

The benefits of breastfeeding

• For the parent • For the baby

United States Breastfeeding Committee Workplace Accommodations to Support and Protect Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding recommendations

• American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization Supports

• Breastfeeding exclusively for at least six months

• Babies breastfeed for a minimum of two years with appropriate complimentary foods

introduced

• The longer a parent breastfeeds the more benefits to both parent and baby

Updated AAP guidance recommends longer breastfeeding due to benefits | AAP News | American Academy of Pediatrics

Why support breastfeeding in the workplace

• ROI of 3:1

• Healthy baby = employee at work

• Absences to care for sick children

occur 2x more often for non

breastfed infants

The Business Case for Breastfeeding

Why support

breastfeeding in

the workplace

94%

retention

Employer of

choice

Womenshealth.gov/supporting-nursing-mom-work

Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Designation

Purpose of the program

• Increase the number of workplaces

supporting breastfeeding families

• Recognize the importance of

employer support

• Support parents to continue

breastfeeding for up to a year and

beyond

STEP(s) to becoming BFF

Support Time Education

Place

Evaluate

• Evaluate breastfeeding supports:

• Evaluate and update your policy regularly

• Survey those who have used the lactation room

• Follow the demographics of your workforce

• Are you hiring younger employees of childbearing age

• Have there been any baby booms or an increase in employees taking parental leave

Application Process

There is no charge to participate in this program.

•Use the self-assessment checklist (PDF)to review the criteria

for Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace recognition and help

guide the development of your workplace lactation support

program.

•Complete the Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace application.

NEW! We've changed the application to make it easier to

complete online. Note: you can use the Save & Return feature

to get a web address so you can work on the application later.

•Applications are due:

• March 15

• June 15

• Sept. 15

• Dec. 15

Email questions to: health.bfw@state.mn.us.

Next Steps

• Determine if you currently have a policy or guidelines in place

• If yes, does it need to be updated

• If no, determine if leadership supportive of implementing a policy

• Use the STEP approach

• Tap into your local breastfeeding coalition if you have one

https://mnbreastfeedingcoalition.org

• Apply for recognition

8/9/2023 11

Thank you!

dol.gov/agencies/whd

1-866-4-US-WAGE

Pump at Work Protections under

the Fair Labor Standards Act

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

Presentation Topics

• Covered Employees

• Break Time Requirements

• Space Requirements

• Exemptions

• Retaliation

• Enforcement

• Resources

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

Disclaimer

This presentation is intended as general information only and does

not carry the force of legal opinion. The Department of Labor is

providing this information as a public service. This information and

related materials are presented to give the public access to

information on Department of Labor programs. You should be aware

that, while we try to keep the information timely and accurate, there

will often be a delay between official publications of the materials

and the modifications of these pages. Therefore, we make no

express or implied guarantees. We will make every effort to keep

this information current and to correct errors brought to our

attention.

FLSA Pump at

Work

Protections

The FLSA requires employers

to provide reasonable break

time and a private place other

than a bathroom for an

employee to pump breast milk

for their nursing child for one

year after the child's birth each

time such employee has need

to pump at work.

The PUMP Act

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

On December 29, 2022, the Providing Urgent Maternal

Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP for Nursing Mothers

Act or PUMP Act) became law, extending right to pump

protections to millions of workers and allowing for additional

remedies for violations.

• Extended coverage effective as of December 29, 2022.

• Additional remedies available for violations occurring on

or after April 28, 2023.

Eligible Employees

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Nearly all employees covered by the FLSA are eligible to

pump at work.

• Employees are eligible to pump at work for one year after

their child’s birth.

• Narrow exemptions may apply for certain employees of small

companies and certain transportation employees.

Enterprise Coverage

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

All employees of an enterprise are covered under the FLSA if

the employer is:

• Engaged in interstate commerce, has at least two

employees, and does at least $500,000 a year in

business, or

• Engaged in the operation of a hospital, residential medical

or nursing care facilities, schools, preschools, or a public

agency.

Individual Coverage

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Individual employees may be covered and entitled to FLSA protections to

pump at work if they are engaged in interstate commerce even if the

employer is not a covered enterprise.

• Interstate commerce includes making out-of-state phone calls, receiving

or sending interstate mail or electronic communications, ordering

or receiving goods from out-of-state suppliers, handling credit card

transactions, and performing accounting or bookkeeping for such

activities.

• Domestic service workers, such as housekeepers, full-time babysitters,

and cooks, are normally covered by the law.

Reasonable

Break Time

The FLSA requires employers to

provide nursing employees:

• Reasonable break time

• Each time such employee has

need to pump at work

• For one year after the child’s

birth

The frequency of breaks needed to

pump at work, as well as the duration

of each break, will likely vary.

Reasonable Break Time - Examples

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Irina, a shift manager at a fast-food restaurant, takes four

25-minute pump breaks each day when she first returns to

work after the birth of her child.

• Leslie, a department store delivery driver with a nine-month-

old baby, needs two 30-minute pump breaks each day she

works.

Compensation for Break Time

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• As with other breaks under the FLSA, the nursing employee must be

completely relieved from duty or the time spent pumping must be

counted as hours worked for the purposes of minimum wage and

overtime requirements.

• If an employer already provides paid break time and if an employee

chooses to use that time to pump, they must be compensated in the

same way that other employees are compensated for break time.

• An employer must also pay for pump breaks if required by Federal or

State law or municipal ordinance.

Space

Requirements

Nursing employees must be

provided a space that is:

• Shielded from view,

• Free from intrusion from

coworkers and the public,

and

• May be used to pump

breast milk.

The space cannot be a bathroom.

Shielded from View / Free from Intrusion

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Employers must ensure the employee’s privacy, for example,

by displaying a sign when the space is in use or providing a

lock on the door.

• Workers who telework must also be free from observation by

any employer-provided or required video system, including

computer camera, security camera, or web conferencing

platform.

• Employees on passenger trains may temporarily obscure the

view of recording devices when the train is not moving.

Functional Space

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• The location must be functional as a space for pumping milk.

• An employer may temporarily designate a space or make a

space available when needed by the employee.

• Employers should take into consideration the number of

nursing employees and their work schedules to determine

whether more than one space should be designated or

created.

Space - Example

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Merin, a logging company employee, pumps in a break

room at the company’s office. The room is shielded from

view and Merin is permitted to lock the door during pump

breaks.

Undue Hardship Exemption

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

An employer that employs fewer than 50 employees is not required to

provide break time and space only if it would impose undue hardship.

• The employer must demonstrate that compliance requires significant

difficulty or expense when considered in relation to the size, financial

resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s business.

• Not available to employers with 50 or more employees.

• All employees who work for the employer, regardless of work site,

are counted.

Exemptions After Three-Year Delay

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Even once pump at work protections are applicable to these

employees on December 29, 2025, an exception to these

protections may apply if an employer demonstrate that

compliance requires significant expense or results in unsafe

conditions.

• Significant expense does not include installing a curtain or

other screening protection.

Interaction

with State

Laws

• The FLSA’s pump at work

protections do not preempt a

State law or municipal

ordinance that provides

greater protections to

employees than those

provided by the FLSA.

• Many states have laws

related to pumping milk at

work.

Prohibited Retaliation

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• It is also a violation of the FLSA to “discharge or in any

other manner discriminate against” any employee

because, for instance, they filed a complaint to assert

their pump at work rights or cooperated in an

investigation regarding these protections.

• Employees are protected regardless of whether the

complaint is made orally or in writing.

• Most courts have ruled that internal complaints to an

employer are also protected under the FLSA's prohibition

on retaliation.

Example – Prohibited Retaliation

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Leslie is a delivery truck drive for a department store and

takes breaks to pump breast milk twice a day. The

supervisor complains that the breaks are interfering with

the delivery schedule and moves Leslie to a lower-paying

job as a result.

• In this example, Leslie has experienced unlawful

retaliation under the FLSA.

Remedies

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Employers are liable for appropriate legal or equitable remedies under the

FLSA.

• Effective April 28, 2023, remedies for violations of the reasonable break time

and space requirements may include employment, reinstatement, promotion,

and the payment of wages lost and an equal amount as liquidated damages,

compensatory damages, and make-whole relief, such as economic losses

that resulted from violations, and punitive damages where appropriate.

• These legal and equitable remedies are already available for violations of the

anti-retaliation prohibition.

Enforcement

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

An employee may file a complaint with WHD or may file a

private cause of action seeking appropriate remedies.

• An employee or other party can file a complaint with

WHD at any time within a two-year statute of limitations.

• Special notification procedures may apply to filing a

private action where an employer has failed to provide

an employee with an appropriate space to pump.

• These special procedures do not apply before an

employer or other party can file a complaint with WHD.

Special Notification Procedures

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

Before an employee can file a private suit regarding an employer’s

failure to provide a space to pump, the employee must notify the

employer of the failure and allow 10 days for the employer to come

into compliance.

The employee is not required to provide this notice:

• If the worker has been fired for requesting reasonable break time

or space,

• If the worker has been fired for opposing employer conduct

related to PUMP Act rights, or

• Where the employer has expressed a refusal to comply.

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

EMPLOYER COVERAGE

Employers with 50 or more employees

Public Agencies

Public and private elementary and secondary schools

EMPLOYEE ELIGIBILITY

Employed by covered employer

Worked at least 12 months

1,250 hours of service during the 12 months before leave begins

Employed at a work site with 50 employees within 75 miles

 ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES MAY TAKE FMLA LEAVE:

 For the birth or placement of a child for adoption

 To care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent with a serious health condition

 For their own serious health condition

See USDOL-Fact Sheet #28

FMLA AND THE PUMP ACT

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

An employee's ability to use FMLA leave during pregnancy or

after the birth of a child has not changed. Under the

regulations, a mother can use 12 weeks of FMLA leave for

the birth of a child, for prenatal care and incapacity related

to pregnancy, and for her own serious health condition

following the birth of a child.

WHD Information

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of

Labor administers and enforces the FLSA, including the

pumping at work protections.

How to contact WHD:

• Call our toll-free information and helpline, available 8 a.m. to

5 p.m. in your time zone, 1-866-4USWAGE(1-866-487-9243)

• Visit http://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact.

WHD Resources

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

Additional information about the FLSA Protections to Pump at Work

can be found at https://

www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pump-at-work

• Fact Sheet # 73: FLSA Protections to Pump Breast Milk at Work

• FAQs: FLSA Protections to Pump Breast Milk at Work

What

to Expect from Your Employer When You’re Expecting

http://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/maternal-health

Additional Resources

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Supporting Nursing Moms at Work: Employer Solutions

http://www.womenshealth.gov/supporting-nursing-moms-work/what-law-

says-about-breastfeeding-and-work/what-employers-need-know

• National Conference

of State Legislatures Compilation of State

Breastfeeding

Laws http://www.ncsl.org/health/breastfeeding-state-laws

• Surgeon

General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding

http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/resources/calltoaction.htm

• EEOC Enforcement Guidance on Disparate Treatment

http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/enforcement-guidance-unlawful-disparate-

treatment-workers-caregiving-responsibilities

Additional Resources - cont.

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• OPM Guidance on Nursing Mothers in the Federal Workforce

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/NMoth

ersFederalEmplymnt.pdf

• Guide for Establishing a Federal Nursing Mother’s Program

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/worklife/reference-

materials/nursing-mother-guide.pdf.

• CDC Workplace Lactation Support Program Toolkit

https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/index.htm

Connect with Us

U.S. Department of Labor | Wage and Hour Division

• Connect with WHD: https://www.dol.gov/NEWSROOM/DIGITAL

• WHD Twitter: https://twitter.com/whd_dol

• DOL

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/departmentoflabor

• DOL YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/USDepartmentofLabor

• DOL Blog: https://blog.dol.gov/

Questions?