Lawmakers Mandate Paid Lactation Breaks, As Well as Paid Prenatal Leave
As part of an effort to improve maternal care and reduce infant mortality rates in New York, the state’s legislature has modified the state’s labor laws to require that employers provide nursing mothers with paid breaks to express breast milk. The changes come as part of the finalization of New York’s $237 billion budget for 2024.
How Has the Law Changed for Nursing Mothers?
Employers in New York have been required to allow nursing mothers to take breaks to express breast milk for nearly 20 years. Until now, though, a nursing mother was required to either take an unpaid break or use other paid break time for lactation. Under the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act, such breaks were allowed for up to three years after a child’s birth. Furthermore, New York employers must prepare and disseminate a copy of the company’s lactation policy to all employees.
Pursuant to the new law, which becomes effective on June 19, 2024, an employer must grant a worker a paid break “each time” she has a “reasonable need to express breast milk.” Nothing in the language of the law prevents an employee from taking more than one such break during a shift.
The New Paid Prenatal Leave Requirements in New York
The legislature also enacted a new law mandating employers to give workers 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during any given calendar year, in addition to sick and safe leave. The language of the new law seems clearly to apply only to employees who are pregnant, not to significant others. There is no waiting period or requirement that the leave be accumulated over a period of time.
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