DOL Listening Session 1/31: Reasonable Break Time for Nursing Mothers

DOL Listening Sessions: Reasonable Break Time for Nursing Mothers

On December 21, 2010, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) published a "Request for Information” (RFI) outlining the Department’s preliminary interpretations of the "Break Time for Nursing Mothers” law, which was passed as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and to seek public comment on these interpretations and any other issues on which the public would like to comment.

WHD will host a series of listening sessions for the public to learn more about the RFI and to provide feedback to WHD on any and all issues pertaining to this new law, such as:

• Duration and Frequency: What is adequate time to express breast milk? What is "reasonable” break time from employee and employer perspectives?
• Reasonable Space & Features: What does it mean for an employer to provide "a place” to express breast milk? What features should be available in the place (refrigeration, electrical outlet, sink with running water, chair, etc)? What potential contamination risks exist?
• Undue Hardship: When should the determination of the number of workers be made for the purpose of claiming the undue hardship exemption? What standard is the most appropriate?
• Notice: How can the federal government best communicate the law to nursing mothers and to employers? How and when should a nursing mother notify her employer to invoke this right?