Latest PUMP Act guidance: Feds release new compliance tool

Heads up, HR: The Department of Labor (DOL) just released new PUMP Act guidance to help employers comply with the law. As you probably recall, the agency just started PUMP Act enforcement last month — so the timing of this new resource is spot on.

First things first: If you aren’t familiar with Field Assistance Bulletins, they’re valuable compliance tools. The agency’s Wage and Hour Division periodically develops the documents to provide guidance to its own investigators and staff to clarify the DOL’s view on various laws.

Latest PUMP Act guidance: 3 keys

In this bulletin, the feds provide key info on three important aspects of the law:

1. Break times
2. Compensation, and
3. Space requirements.

1. Break times

Under the law, employers must provide nursing employees with reasonable break times each time an employee needs to pump breast milk, the bulletin stresses. Moreover, nursing employees are entitled to such breaks to express breast milk for one year after a child’s birth.

Here’s another important aspect: Employers must understand that the frequency, duration and timing of the breaks will vary depending on the needs of the nursing employee and the child as well as the location of the space. Simply put, employers and employees may agree to a general schedule based on anticipated needs, but an employer cannot require an employee to adhere to a fixed schedule that doesn’t meet the employee’s need for a break each time the employee needs to pump.

Further, employers must understand that any agreed-upon schedule may need to be adjusted over time as a nursing employee’s pumping needs change.

In addition, nursing employees who are working remotely are entitled to the same pump breaks as employees working on-site.

2. Compensation

Under the PUMP Act, the bulletin explains, employees do not need to be paid for break time needed to express milk “unless otherwise required by Federal or State law or municipal ordinance.”

State and municipal laws vary, so employers must examine applicable laws.

As for the federal FLSA, all hours worked must be compensated. In other words, if an employee is not completely relieved from duty during the entirety of the break, it must be paid.

Short breaks, usually 20 minutes or less, provided by the employer must be counted as hours worked. Further, if the employer provides paid breaks, and the nursing employee uses that time to pump, then the employee must be compensated in the same way that other employees are paid for break time.

These rules apply to remote and onsite employees.

3. Space requirements

The bulletin clarifies that nursing employees must have access to a place to pump at work that is:

• shielded from view
• free from intrusion from co-workers and the public
• available each time it is needed by the employee, and
• not a bathroom.

Regarding bathrooms, the bulletin clarifies that a bathroom is not a permissible location for pump breaks. Expressing breast milk in a bathroom raises health and safety concerns, which may include the risk of contracting bacteria in breast milk or breast pump equipment.

However, it’s crucial to understand that employers do not have to permanently designate a space as a lactation room only. Temporary spaces may be permissible if the following conditions are met:

• The employee must be shielded from view and have privacy from co-workers and the public. According to the bulletin, employers can meet privacy requirements by providing a lock for a door or hanging a sign while the space is in use. Remote employees are entitled to the same privacy protections. During pump breaks, they must be free from observation via computer cameras, security cameras and other web conferencing platforms.
• The space must be functional for an employee to pump milk. In other words, it must have a place for the employee to sit and a flat surface (other than a floor) where the pump can be placed. That’s the bare minimum. What else do employees need? Ideally, spaces have electricity, allowing mothers the option of using electric pumps rather than battery-operated devices. Ideal spaces also provide access to a sink, where employees can wash their hands and clean pump attachments.

Finally, the bulletin notes that employers may take a variety of approaches to meet space requirements, depending on their facilities. Some employers may designate a vacant office or an empty storage room. Others may choose to provide a large room with privacy screens and signs to designate when an individual area is being used.

To review the bulletin in its entirety, click here to download.

Plus, if you missed it, the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division recently hosted a webinar, titled The PUMP for Working Mothers Act: What Advocates and Employers Need to Know. Check it out.