Source: http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/workplace-guide-ny
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 18:29:30+00:00

Document:
Purpose: This guide was developed to provide an overview of the laws that protect the rights of breastfeeding employees in New York to express breast milk during the workday. The factors that are addressed and the level of protection provided vary widely from one law to another. The chart below details the New York and federal laws that impact breastfeeding employees, and the protections those laws provide for each listed component. Components that are not addressed by the law are shaded in gray.
Where to Go for Help: Many breastfeeding coalitions provide support for employees and employers. See the New York Statewide Breastfeeding Coalition website or visit the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee Coalitions Directory for a list of all breastfeeding coalitions.
New York Labor Law § 206-c. Right of nursing mothers to express breast milk. An employer shall provide reasonable unpaid break time or permit an employee to use paid break time or meal time each day to allow an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for up to three years following child birth. The employer shall make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location, in close proximity to the work area, where an employee can express milk in privacy. No employer shall discriminate in any way against an employee who chooses to express breast milk in the work place.
Statutory language: full text of NY Labor Law § 206-c.
State: New York Labor Law § 206-c.
All employees who are nursing mothers. Nursing mothers who are employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and not exempt from FLSA overtime pay requirements. Important note: if an employer is not covered by the FLSA, its employees may still be covered if the employee's own duties meet certain interstate commerce requirements. Title VII protects employees of private and state and local government employers with 15 or more employees, labor organizations, employment agencies, and apprenticeship and training programs. Title VII also applies to employees in the federal sector.
Employers are required to provide written notification of the provisions of Labor Law §206-c to employees who are returning to work, following the birth of a child, and their right to take unpaid leave for the purpose of expressing breast milk. Notification often comes in the form of a policy handbook.
The number of unpaid breaks an employee will need to take for expression purposes varies depending on the amount of time the employee is separated from the nursing infant and the mother’s physical needs. In most circumstances, employers shall provide unpaid break time at least once every three hours if requested by the employee. Upon election of the employee, unpaid break time may run concurrently with regularly scheduled paid break or meal periods. This benefit is available to the employee during their basic work week and any overtime or additional hours worked. An employee may be required to postpone scheduled unpaid break time for no more than thirty minutes if she cannot be spared from her duties until appropriate coverage arrives.
Reasonable unpaid break time is sufficient time to allow the employee to express breast milk. Each break shall generally be no less than twenty minutes. If the room or other location is not in close proximity to the employee’s work station (e.g. as in a shared work location with a common lactation room) each break shall generally be no less than thirty minutes. Employees can elect to take shorter unpaid breaks for this purpose.
3 years after the child’s birth.
The room or location provided by the employer for this purpose cannot be a restroom or toilet stall. An employer may dedicate one room or other location for the expression of breast milk and establish a schedule to accommodate the needs of multiple employees needing access thereto. An employer who is unable to provide a dedicated lactation room or other location under these guidelines, may allow the use of a vacant office or other available room on a temporary basis for the expression of breast milk, provided the room is not accessible to the public or other employees while the nursing employee is using the room for expression purposes. As a last resort, an employer who is unable to provide a dedicated lactation room or other location under these guidelines may make available a cubicle for use by individuals expressing breast milk, provided the cubicle is fully enclosed with a partition and is not otherwise accessible to the public or other employees while it is in use for expression purposes. The cubicle walls shall be at least seven feet tall to insure the nursing employee’s privacy. Each room or other location used for the expression of breast milk under these guidelines shall be well lit at all times through either natural or artificial light. If the room has a window, it shall be covered with a curtain, blind, or other covering to ensure privacy for the mother as she is expressing breast milk. The room shall contain, at a minimum, a chair and small table, desk, counter, or other flat surface. In addition, employers are encouraged to provide an outlet, clean water supply, and access to refrigeration for the purposes of storing the expressed milk. The employer must maintain the cleanliness of the room or location set aside for the use of employees expressing breast milk at work. For the purposes of this provision: “Private” shall mean that the room or other location shall not be open to other individuals frequenting the business, whether as employees, customers, or other members of the public. To insure privacy, the room or location should have a door equipped with a functional lock. If a door with a functional lock is not available (in the case of a fully enclosed cubicle) as a last resort an employer must utilize a sign advising the room or location is in use and not accessible to other employees or the public. Any room or location provided for the expression of breast milk must be in close proximity to the work area of the employee(s) using it for the expression of breast milk. Close proximity means the room or location must be in walking distance and the distance to the location should not appreciably lengthen the break time. Should an employer have more than one employee at a time needing access to a lactation room or other location, the employer may dedicate a centralized location for use by all such employees, provided however, that the employer shall make every effort to locate such space at a reasonable distance from the employees using it. Employers located in shared work areas such as office buildings, malls, and similar premises may cooperate with one another to establish and maintain a dedicated lactation room, provided however, that such rooms must be located at a reasonable distance from the employees using the room. Each employer utilizing such common dedicated lactation room will retain individual responsibility for ensuring that it meets all the requirements of these guidelines with regard to their employees. Use of a common dedicated lactation room pursuant to this paragraph will not reduce, mitigate, or otherwise affect the employer’s obligations under these guidelines.
Employees must be allowed to use paid or unpaid break time to express breast milk.
Employers shall provide written notification of the provisions of Labor Law §206-c to employees who are returning to work, following the birth of a child, and their right to take unpaid leave for the purpose of expressing breast milk. Such notice may either be provided individually to affected employees or to all employees generally through publication of such notice in the employee handbook or posting of the notice in a central location.
An employee wishing to avail herself of this benefit is required to give her employer advance notice. Such notice shall preferably be provided to the employer prior to the employee’s return to work following the birth of the child in order to allow the employer an opportunity to establish a location and schedule leave time amongst multiple employees if needed.
The relative cost of providing a room or other space for the dedicated purpose.
There are no exemptions for providing break time.
Employers are encouraged, but not required, to provide access to refrigeration for the purposes of storing expressed milk. An employer is not responsible for insuring the safekeeping of expressed milk stored in any refrigerator on its premises. The employee is required to store all expressed milk in closed containers, regardless of the method of storage and to bring such milk home with her each evening.
Upon election of the employee, an employer shall allow the employee to work before or after her normal shift to make up the amount of time used during the unpaid break time(s) so long as the additional time requested falls within the employer’s normal work hours.
No employer shall discriminate in any way against an employee who chooses to express breast milk in the workplace.
Encouraging or allowing a work environment that is hostile to the right of nursing mothers to take leave for the purpose of expressing breast milk could constitute discrimination within the meaning of this section of the guidelines.
New York State Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards and New York State Attorney General.
File a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor/Division of Labor Standards. For more information, contact the Department at 1-888-469-7365.
N.Y. Exec. L. §§ 292, 296 provides a right to reasonable accommodation for “a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth that inhibits the exercise of a normal bodily function or is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques,” and thus could be implicated in a failure to accommodate lactation claim, depending on whether lactation would be found to constitute a qualifying condition under this definition. File a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights.
This document was developed in partnership with the New York Statewide Breastfeeding Coalition. New York Labor Law § 206-c content was reviewed by the New York State Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards in March 2017. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act content is based on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission publications. Break Time for Nursing Mothers law content was reviewed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division in May 2016.

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