Tue, 11/17/2020
The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires employers provide a nursing employee with a reasonable break to express breast milk, each time the employee needs to express, for one year after the child’s birth. Employers are not required to pay employees for time spent expressing milk. The employer must also provide a nursing employee with a place to express breast milk, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act also protects employees who express breast milk. An employee who suffers an adverse employment action because she was expressing milk may have a sex discrimination claim under Title VII.
In Newsome v. City of Philadelphia, a group of female police officers sued their employer for failing to provide a nursing space that was shielded from coworkers and for retaliating against them for complaining about the lack of adequate space and for filing an EEOC complaint. The workers allege that nursing officers were required to pump in offices that were not private or the lunchroom, and were instructed to pump in the same room at the same time. The court concluded that the plaintiffs’ allegations state a viable FLSA claim, even though it is an open question in the Third Circuit whether there is a private cause of action for workers denied those rights under the FLSA, and will be allowed to pursue their case.
MSE provides legal assistance to workers who experience gender discrimination in the workplace, including pay disparity and inequity, discrimination based on pregnancy, and retaliation for speaking out about discrimination and times out. For more information about MSE’s representation of workers who experience gender discrimination in the workplace, visit https://www.mselaborlaw.com/practice-areas/metoo-in-the-workplace.
