Oh, Fairest of all Labor Standards Acts! What delights and protections do you offer to nursing mother employees in South Carolina? Breast pumping rights at work? Well, let’s get to it and not milk the suspense any longer!
In this post, dear readers, you’ll learn how to better express yourself. Or, rather, you’ll learn when and where you can express yourself. And yes, those were just a few breast pumping puns at the beginning of this post, so we’re already off and running!
Who Said Obama Never Gave You Anything Nice?
A little known component to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, was that employers are now required to provide unpaid break time to their nursing mother employees so that the employees can breast pump throughout the work day as needed. Milk for their adorable little babies, such as this one, who is just probably some random example of a baby who may or may not be be related to me:
I mean, look at him! I SAID LOOK AT HIM! *sigh* Isn’t he just darling?
…..
Ahem. Anyway. Back on point: employers are also required to provide a private location for employees’ breast pumping, and, the law notes, bathrooms don’t count!
This component is actually an amendment to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and is enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor. Oh, and also enforced by this handsome guy! (Enforcement comes through private litigation in federal and state court, outcome and results cannot be guaranteed, but give me a call and we’ll kick some of that, but by no means a guaranteed all of that, defendant booty.)
It’s lucky for me, too, that this breast pumping provision falls under the FLSA, since I can blog about it here on my famous True Or FLSA blog, and therefore, my “express yourself” joke, already a classic for the ages, fits right in without too many complaints.
Who is Covered by this Breast Pumping Provision?
Keep in mind, however, that these breaks apply only to non-exempt employees (i.e., employees who are NOT paid a salary and who would therefore be entitled to overtime pay). So if you get a salary and don’t get overtime pay, then you aren’t covered by this provision, so just try to keep your breast pumping quietly on that conference call while you work all dem overtime hours, thanks.
Notably, this provision doesn’t apply to companies with less than 50 employees IF the provision of breaks and a location for breast pumping would impose an undue hardship on the company. Whether the burden is an undue hardship is determined by the relative size and resources of the company. So your banana stand, while it may always have money in it, probably won’t be forced to build a standalone breast pumping room.
What Happens If My Employer Violates the FLSA?
Seriously though, the FLSA prevents discrimination or retaliation on the basis of an employee making a complaint under the FLSA. If you are fired for exercising your rights under the FLSA or for complaining about an employer’s violation of the law, then you may have a legal claim for retaliation, which means you can sue in state or federal court and recoup your lost wages (sometimes doubled by the court) and attorneys’ fees. If you’ve experienced retaliation, give me a call, get it off your chest, and most importantly: don’t nurse a grudge; nurse your baby instead.