Department of Labor Cracking Down on Violators of Breastfeeding Law

A March 2010 amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to provide "reasonable break time" to employees who are nursing mothers for one year after the birth of their child, so that the mothers can pump breast milk during working hours. Employers also have to provide a place for the nursing mothers to express their milk that is "shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public," and that place can't be a bathroom.

The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) recently started cracking down on employers who don't comply with this provision. According to MSNBC, the DOL has already cited 23 companies, including Dollar General, Dillard's, Starbucks and a McDonald's franchise, for failure to provide adequate space and/or failure to provide reasonable time. Even though the DOL has not yet written the final rules regarding the law, it "intends to continue enforcing the law based on the statutory language," according to a DOL spokesperson.

Employers with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt from the law, but only if compliance with the provision would impose an "undue hardship." Smaller companies usually have more trouble than larger ones complying with the law because it's harder for small companies to find the extra space and time to accommodate nursing mothers.

The new amendment to the FLSA was included in the Affordable Care Act, which was part of President Obama's healthcare reform legislation. The law is constantly changing, and employers need to stay informed in order to avoid potential sanctions. WeComply's online FLSA training course can help employers keep its managers and HR employees up to date on this key compliance topic. 

Posted by WeComply on January 19, 2012 WeComply is a leading provider of customizable online ethics and compliance training solutions, offering more than 70 courses on such topics as anti-corruption, antitrust, Code of Conduct, preventing discrimination and harassment, data privacy and security, insider trading and whistleblowing.