Minnesota is the third state to offer paid break time for nursing and lactating employees to express milk at work. Following Georgia and Illinois, effective Jan. 1, 2022, employers in Minnesota are no longer allowed to reduce an employee’s compensation for break times used to express milk at work.
The new law expands provisions of the Women’s Economic Security Act (WESA), which was passed in 2014 to strengthen workplace protections for women, among other priorities.
The law change also allows more pregnant employees – those who work for an employer with 15 or more employees – to have the right to request and receive a pregnancy accommodation in the workplace, such as more frequent restroom, food and water breaks and limits to heavy lifting.
Due to the law change, an estimated 27,000 more workers in Minnesota will be able to request and receive a pregnancy accommodation in the workplace. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), which ensures compliance with wage and hour laws, proposed these changes to the law after contracting with Wilder Research in 2019 to get feedback about
pregnant and new parents’ experiences in the workplace. In the findings, DLI learned new parents faced barriers to expressing milk at work, such as not being able to take breaks when needed and having to stay late to make up for any break time used. The research also found that while many pregnant employees did not need an accommodation in the workplace, those who did often did not receive one.
DLI encourages workers and employers to review their workplace rights and responsibilities under the Women’s Economic Security Act. Visit dli.mn.gov/newparents to review DLI resources for expectant and new parents or contact DLI’s Labor Standards at [email protected] or 651-284-5075.
