Beginning June 19, 2024, Labor Law Section 206-c provides all employees with the right to paid break time to express breast milk in the workplace regardless of the size of their employer or the industry they work in. Employers are required to tell employees about their rights regarding breast milk expression by providing them the NYSDOL Policy on the Rights of Employees to Express Breast Milk in the Workplace when they start a new job and annually thereafter.
The policy is also available in an additional 16 languages.
For quick reference regarding how this law impacts you as an employer or and employee, please see the fact sheets below.
For Workers
Q: Does the Room Have to be Private?
Q: What Do I Do If My Employer Isn’t Following This Law?
For Employers
| Q: What are my responsibilities when receiving a request for breast milk expression? | A: Employers must respond to a request to express breast milk in writing within five (5) days of receiving the request. Supervisors who receive a request and do not directly handle the set up of a lactation space must forward the request to the appropriate individual. When a space is designated for breast milk expression, employers must notify all employees in writing. |
| Q: Can I Require Employees Make Up Break Time for Breast Milk Expression? | A: No. An employer cannot require an employee to make up the paid break time used for breast milk expression. |
| Q: Do I need to change an employee’s work hours to accommodate breast milk expression? | A: Employers do not need to change an employee’s work schedule. Where feasible, NYS DOL does recommend that employers allow for flexible work hours, job sharing, and/or part time scheduling to accommodate employees with children of nursing age. |
| Q: Do Pumping Breaks Need to be Paid? | A: Yes. Employers must pay employees for a thirty (30) minute break when an employee needs to pump breast milk. Employees have the option of using their regularly provided paid break or regular meal time to pump breast milk should they require additional time. Employers must continue to pay any customarily paid regular break time for an employee who pumps breast milk. Employers cannot require an employee to complete work tasks while expressing breast milk, however, if an employee voluntarily decides to do so, they may. |
| Q: Can pumping breaks be used to breast feed children onsite? | A: While not a requirement, NYS DOL recommends that employers allow employees with nursing children attending onsite day care the option to take breaks to breast feed in lieu of pumping. |
| Q: What are the Requirements of Employers Regarding a Place to Pump Breast Milk? | A: Employers are required to provide employees with a private room or other location close to the employee’s work area where they can pump breast milk. If the employer can’t provide a dedicated lactation room, a temporarily vacant room may be used instead. As a last resort, a cubicle can be used, but it must be fully enclosed with walls at least seven feet tall. |
| Q: Can Bathrooms be Used as the Employer’s Provided Space? | A: No, the room or location provided by an employer to pump breast milk cannot be a restroom or toilet stall. |
| Q: What Amenities Must the Lactation Room Contain? | A: The place where employees pump breast milk must contain a chair and small table or other flat surface. The space must also have good artificial or natural light, an electrical outlet (if the workplace has electricity), and access to a clean water supply. If there is a refrigerator in the workplace, employers must provide access to employees to store their expressed milk. |
| Q: Does the Lactation Room Have to be Private? | A: The room or place provided by the employer cannot be open to other employees, customers, or members of the public while an employee is pumping breast milk. It should have a door with a functional lock, or in the case of a cubicle, a sign warning the location is in use and not accessible to others. Any windows must have curtains or other covering. |
| Q: Are Discrimination and Retaliation Prohibited? | A: Yes - Employers may not discriminate or retaliate in any way against any employee who chooses to pump breast milk in the workplace or who files a complaint with the Department of Labor. The Department takes allegations of retaliation very seriously and will investigate promptly. |
| Q: What is the Complaint Process? | A: Any party may file a confidential complaint with the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Labor Standards alleging non-compliance with this law. |
| Q: Is There a Similar Federal Law? | A: The Fair Labor Standards Act also protect the rights of employees to pump breast milk at work. In 2023, these protections were expanded under the federal PUMP Act. For more information, contact the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor at 1-866-4USWAGE or visit https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pump-at-work. |
NYS DOH Breastfeeding Bill of Rights
You may file a complaint with the Department of Labor if:
You need to express breast milk at your place of work, it has been three years or less following the child’s birth
You believe that your employer is in violation of Labor Law Section 206-c
NYS DOL
Division of Labor Standards
Harriman State Office Campus
Building 12, Room 185B
Albany, NY 12226
If you need additional assistance to file your complaint, please call: 1-888-4-NYSDOL (1-888-469-7365) or email us at [email protected] .
