In the past 6 months, Congress passed two pregnancy-related acts—the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). Although some of the Acts’ provisions overlap with requirements of other federal and state laws already in place, both Acts require more stringent obligations on employers.
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act
The PUMP Act, signed December 29, 2022, broadens the number of workers who must be accommodated by their workplaces for lactation. It also specifies how employees who pump while working must be compensated as well as provides additional means of legal recourse. The law requires employers to provide a reasonable break for an employee to express breast milk “each time” the employee needs one for one year after the child’s birth.
The PUMP Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to mandate employers who provide paid breaks to other employees to also pay employees for breaks used for expressing milk. The PUMP Act specifies unless the employee is relieved of all obligations throughout the duration of the break, time spent expressing shall be counted as hours worked. Also, the full break must be paid for if the employee is interrupted while it is in progress.
The PUMP Act provisions overlap with requirements from the previous pregnancy-related law, the Break Time for Nursing Mothers Act, signed in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act. The PUMP Act...
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