Update: Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Adam Santucci

On May 3, 2010, we posted information about what was then a little known provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (pdf): the requirement that employers provide reasonable unpaid breaks for nursing mothers to express breast milk. Recently, the Department of Labor issued Fact Sheet #73: Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA (the "Fact Sheet") (pdf). The Fact Sheet clarifies the unpaid break provision of the PPACA. 

Essentially, the PPACA requires that employers provide reasonable, unpaid break time and a private space for mothers to express breast milk for children up to one year in age.  There is an exemption for small employers, those with fewer than 50 employees, if the PPACA's requirements would pose an undue hardship. 

The Fact Sheet clarifies that employers need not provide the break to those employees who are considered FLSA exempt. It also makes clear that while the breaks are unpaid, if employees are not completely relieved from duty during the breaks, then they must be compensated for the time.

The Fact Sheet also clarifies that the private space to be provide does not have to be dedicated solely to breast feeding. However, if it is not, the space must be available when needed, as well as shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public. 

The Fact Sheet also states that the small employer "undue hardship" exemption will be analyzed by examining the difficulty or expensive of compliance, with reference to "the size, financial resources, nature and structure of the employer's business." 

Employers should evaluate their practices with regards to breaks for breastfeeding mothers to ensure compliance with the PPACA, as clarified by the Fact Sheet.  

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FLSA causes Global Warming: Sixteen Other Reasons to Consider a 4-day Work Week

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Michael Moore

It’s no secret that the FLSA is anachronistic, but now it’s ruining the planet too. The 40-hour week divided into 5 consecutive workdays is a product of the FLSA, which was enacted in 1938. During the last 70 years, we have been consuming energy by commuting to work and operating facilities all the while pumping green house gasses into the atmosphere for an extra day a week.

Aaron Newton makes this brilliant observation in his post on The 4 Day Work Week:

The notion of our standard work week here in America has remained largely the same since 1938. That was the year the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, standardizing the eight hour work day and the 40 hour work week. Each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday workers all over the country wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast and go to work. But the notion that the majority of the workforce should keep these hours is based on nothing more than an idea put forth but the Federal government almost 70 years ago. To be sure it was an improvement in the lives of many Americans who were at the time forced to work 10+ hours a day, sometimes 6 days of the week. So a 40 hour work week was seen as an upgrade in the lives of many of U.S. citizens. 8 is a nice round number; one third of each 24 hour day. In theory it leaves 8 hours for sleep and 8 hours for other activities like eating, bathing, raising children and enjoying life. But the notion that we should work for 5 of these days in a row before taking 2 for ourselves is, as best I can tell, rather arbitrary.

Mr. Newton then goes on to offer Sixteen Reason Why this is an Idea Whose Time has Come. This post is a “must read” for HR Professionals whose businesses may be evaluating the 4-day workweek option and looking for supporting reasons. The key downsides to the four-day week are losses in employee productivity and customer service. Comments challenging the 4-day workweek appear at the Oil Drum, which reprinted Newton’s post.

We have also outlined some legal limitations on the four-day concept in previous posts as it continues to garner a lot of media attention:

Four-Day Work Week Wave is Coming and Energy Expenses And Gas Prices Motivate Employers To Move To Four Day Workweek: What Are The Legal Issues?

 

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