TABLE 1.

Select Elements of the Reasonable Break Time for Nursing Mothers Legal Provisions

Elements	Specifics
Time and location of breaks	Provide a reasonable amount of break time to express milk as frequently as needed by the nursing mother.
	A bathroom, even if private, is not a permissible location.
	The location must be functional as a space for expressing breast milk.
	A temporarily created space is sufficient, provided it is shielded from view and free from any intrusion by co-workers and the public.
Coverage and compensation	Employers with <50 employees are not subject to the break time requirement if compliance with the provision would impose an undue hardship.
	“Undue hardship” is determined by looking at the difficulty or expense of compliance for the employer.
	Employers are not required to compensate nursing mothers for breaks taken for the purpose of expressing milk.
	If employers already provide compensated breaks, and an employee uses such times to express milk, she must be compensated in the same way that other employees are compensated for break times.
	The employee must be completely relieved from duty, or else the time must be compensated as work time.
Fair Labor Standards Act prohibitions on retaliation	It is a violation to discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint under or related to this act.
	Employees are protected regardless of whether the complaint is made orally or in writing.

Abridged from the Fact Sheet #73, Wages and Hour Division, US Department of Labor,² which also provides more information about the FLSA, answers to frequently asked questions, and links to other related documents. Full text of the FLSA regulation is available in the December 21, 2010, issue of the Federal Register.³