The Centers for Disease Control’s 2022 Breastfeeding Report Card indicates that breastfeeding rates for babies drop sharply from birth, and at six months only 24.9% of babies are receiving exclusively breastmilk. Furthermore, over half of mothers who breastfeed report stopping prior to their intended end date. While a variety of reasons contribute to this shortened breastfeeding duration, top among these included difficulties associated with pumping breastmilk. Seen as a step in the right direction for solving this problem, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act or “PUMP” for Nursing Mothers Act, passed by Congress in December of 2022, expands protections granted to nursing mothers in the workplace. The PUMP Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide nursing employees with reasonable break times and private spaces in which to express breast milk.
The Act expands on the nursing protections originally afforded only to overtime eligible, hourly employees under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Under the PUMP Act, these protections have been extended to another nine million employees, regardless of overtime status. This expansion includes many female-dominated occupations previously not covered, such as nurses and teachers, as well as agricultural workers. The law also applies to teleworking employees who are being afforded the same protections as to privacy and time allotted for breaks to pump. It also does not preempt any state or local laws protecting breastfeeding mothers, although currently only thirty states have laws protecting breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.
Rather than take a “one-size-fits-all” approach, this brief amendment requires employers to provide eligible employees with a “reasonable break time” to express breast milk for up to a year after the child’s birth. Expounding on this language, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division released a Field Assistance Bulletin on May 17, 2023, which explained how the law should be applied in the workplace. The DOL considers the frequency,timing, and duration of the pump breaks as a function of the needs of the nursing employee and her child, without regard to the employer’s preferences. Accordingly, the employer cannot dictate a schedule to which the employee must adhere, and if the two agree on a schedule the employee may adjust it as her breastfeeding needs change. The Act does not require employees to be paid during pump breaks, but if the employee is not completely relieved from their work duties, the time must be considered hours worked. Furthermore, if the employee is normally granted paid breaks at work, these breaks can be used for pumping.