Attention employers, 

This message is to remind you of an important legislative update regarding breast milk expression in the workplace.  As of June 19, 2024, the following changes are in effect:

• Employers must give employees 30 minutes of paid break time when employees reasonably need to express breast milk.
• Employees can take shorter breaks if they chose.
• Employees may also use their regular paid break time or meal time to pump breast milk if they would like, or if they need additional time beyond 30 minutes.
• Employees can also choose to take breaks for breast milk expression right before or after their regularly scheduled meal time or paid break periods.

Prior to this amendment, employers were only required to provide “reasonable unpaid” break time.  All employees have the right to express breast milk in the workplace regardless of the size of their employer or the industry they work in.  Employers are required to provide a private space, that is not a bathroom, for any employee wishing to express breast milk in the workplace.  The expansion of the law to include paid break time recognizes the importance of parent and child health and aims to create a more supportive and accommodating environment for nursing employees.  Since June of 2023, employers are also required to tell employees about their rights regarding breast milk expression by providing them with the NYSDOL Policy on the Rights of Employees to Express Breast Milk in the Workplace when they start a new job.  Retaliation against an employee choosing to express breast milk in the workplace is prohibited.  For more information, please review NYSDOL Information for Employers, Rights of Nursing Employees to Pump Breast Milk at Work or visit our Breastmilk Expression in the Workplace website.