Top things you need to know about the PUMP Act
Additional Pump Protection
In case you missed it, President Biden signed off on a $1.7 trillion omnibus package, which included the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act. The PUMP Act expands workplace protections for employees with a need to express breastmilk and requires that employers provide accommodations for salaried employees and other types of workers not covered under existing law. Time spent expressing breastmilk must be considered hours worked if the employee is also working and the bill also extends these accommodations from one to two years.
The Missing Pieces
This is a huge step to support maternal health in the workplace. 9 million employees who were not included in the 2010 Break Time Law are now protected, including teachers, nurses, airline crewmembers and farmworkers. It also provides clarity on pumping time and states that employers must provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk. In addition, the language in this bill is important because it recognizes that expressing breast milk is considered a “physiological need,” which has largely been missing from the conversation to-date.
Women's Health
When a woman who is breastfeeding cannot express milk in the workplace, it places her health at risk because it can lead to clogged milk ducts or mastitis, which often results in tremendous pain, infection of the breast, fever and even hospitalization if not quickly treated. Expressing milk is deeply connected to a breastfeeding woman’s health and it is great to see recognition of this in federal legislation.
We Got Your Back... & Your Front Too
SimpliFed is here to help families with their baby feeding questions and needs, whether they choose to breastfeed, pump, formula feed, or a little of it all. All parents are “working parents” and all parents deserve the support they need to feed their children and feel good about it.
Top 5 Things You Need to Know
- The PUMP Act requires that employers provide accommodations for salaried employees and other types of workers not covered under existing law, including teachers, nurses, airline crew members and farmworkers.
- Time spent expressing breastmilk must be considered hours worked if the employee is also working.
- It was passed in December 2023 and employers across the nation must be in compliance with it by April 28.
- It also provides clarity on pumping time and states that employers must provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breastmilk.
- The language in this bill is important because it recognizes that expressing breastmilk is considered a “physiological need,” which has largely been missing from the conversation to-date. When a woman who is breastfeeding cannot express milk in the workplace, it places her health at risk because it can lead to clogged milk ducts or mastitis, which often results in tremendous pain, infection of the breast, fever and even hospitalization if not quickly treated. Expressing milk is deeply connected to a breastfeeding woman’s health and it is great to see recognition of this in federal legislation.
