Federal FLSA Break Time for Nursing Mothers Poster

Break Time for 
Nursing Mothers
under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)	
WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR	
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to provide break time and space 
for a covered nonexempt nursing mother to express breast milk for her nursing child for 
one year after her child’s birth.	
•	 Employers must allow reasonable 	break time  whenever a covered employee needs	
to express breast milk.	
•	Employers must provide covered employees with space that is:	
—	 functional for expressing milk	 	
—	 shielded from view	 	
—	 free from intrusion	 	
—	 available as needed, AND	 	
— 	NOT a bathroom .
If an employer has fewer than 50 employees  AND can demonstrate that compliance with 
this law would impose an undue hardship on the employer, that employer does not have to 
provide nursing breaks.
Note : The FLSA requirement of break time for nursing mothers to express breast milk 
does not preempt state laws that provide greater protections to employees (for example, 
providing compensated break time, providing break time for exempt employees, or providing 
break time beyond one year after the child’s birth).
UNLAWFUL ACTS
Any employee who is “discharged or in any other manner discriminated against” because 
he or she has filed a complaint or cooperated in an investigation may file a retaliation 
complaint with the Wage and Hour Division or directly in court seeking appropriate remedies.	
WH D	
1-866-4US-WA	GE	
www.dol.gov/whd	
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