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Employment Law
can be provided to the known limitations related to the pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions of a qualified employee; or
5. take adverse action in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment against a qualified employee on account of the employee requesting or using a reasonable accommodation to the known limitations related to the pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions of the employee.
The EEOC is supposed to issue regulations, which will include “examples of reasonable accommodations addressing known limitations related to the pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,” by December 23, 2023.
5. Breastfeeding parents will receive new protections.
President Biden also signed the PUMP Act on December 29, 2022. The PUMP Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act and requires that employers provide a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk each time the employee has a need to express the milk. Such breaks must be provided for one year after the child’s birth. Employers must also provide a place for the employee to express breast milk. That place cannot be a bathroom, must be shielded from view and free from intrusion. If the employee is completely relieved from duty during the break, the time spent breastfeeding is not compensated.
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 provided these protections to nonexempt/hourly employees. The PUMP Act extends the protections to nonexempt and exempt employees. Certain workers in the transportation industry are excluded from the PUMP Act.
With some exceptions, employees must provide employers with notice of an alleged PUMP Act violation and give the employer a 10-day cure period before filing a suit. Employers with fewer than 50 employees may rely on the small employer exemption, if compliance with the law would cause undue hardship because of significant difficulty or expense.
Robert Lockwood is a partner with Wilmer & Lee, P.A. in Huntsville, Alabama. Contact him at: rlockwood@wilmerlee.com.
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FDCC ANNUAL FIVES 2023