The PUMP Act Explained: Workplace Lactation Support and Protections
Most employees have the right to pump at work!
I worked in corporate for multiple years before having kids.
Over time, some of my conversations with older female co-workers and colleagues entailed recounting the workplace conditions they had to deal with while pregnant or recently post-partum as new moms.
Something that came up with multiple of these women was how in the 90s and early aughts they were forced to pump in the restroom. First of all, gross! And second of all, these weren’t even private bathrooms – they were the ones with multiple cramped stalls. The kind of bathrooms where there is barely enough room for you to do what you’re meant to do there (if you know what I mean), let alone to set up a pumping machine that requires an outlet and to maintain privacy and sanitation.
Of course, that was if they could take a break to pump at all. Some had to give up breastfeeding because of the nature of their job and their employer being unwilling to accommodate them.
Over the last handful of years, support for parents in the workplace, particularly moms, has received more attention and has become a regular topic of conversation. On December 29, 2022, former President Biden signed legislation that has taken this issue beyond just conversation.
The legislation is called the PUMP Act and we’re diving into what it is, who is covered under it, who isn’t covered, and where it stands right now under the new administration. Before I get into the nitty-gritty of what the PUMP Act is, I’m giving a brief description and then jumping to who is covered under it.
What is it?
In basic terms, the PUMP Act extends and elaborates the protections for nursing and pumping employees that were laid out by previous laws to include more types of employees and to further specify accommodations that employers must provide.
Who is Protected
Teachers are among the previously excluded employees who are now allowed to pump at work.
The Department of Labor states that the PUMP Act expands pumping-at-work protections to include agricultural workers, nurses, teachers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, home care workers (home health aides, personal care aides, and nursing assistants), and managers. These employees were left out of the previous protective legislation that I will review below under the Details of the PUMP Act.
Who isn’t Protected
According to Law360, airline flight crew employees (pilots and flight attendants) and crew members of rail carriers and motorcoaches (trains and large buses) are not eligible.
Workers employed by companies with fewer than 50 employees may not be eligible if providing the employee with the time and space to pump would cause a substantial hardship or be too expensive for that company. The law doesn’t spell out what would count as substantial hardship or expense, but the wording of the law is similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act
The Details of the PUMP Act
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) laid the groundwork for providing lactating employees and applicants accommodations for pumping breastmilk at work.
The PUMP Act, which stands for the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act, provides the following protections as outlined by the law firm Thompson and Horton LLP:
Hourly, salary, exempt, and remote employees are permitted to take “reasonable breaks” to pump for one year after giving birth.
A “reasonable break time” entails 2 – 3 breaks per day for 15 – 20 minutes each.
Employees must be provided a private, clean space to pump that is not a bathroom, and that is equipped with a table, chair, electrical outlet, and proper ventilation.
Break times less than 20 minutes must be paid per the FLSA. Break times beyond the length of what is protected by the FLSA must be paid for hourly workers if they do any work during their break.
What do you do if your employer doesn’t comply with the PUMP Act?
You have a couple of options as recourse if your employer is not following some or all of the Pump Act. You can either file a complaint with your local office for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division or you can file a lawsuit, also known as a private cause of action.
If the issue is that your employer failed to provide you with a reasonable break time to pump, you do not need to provide a notice that you are either filing a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division or filing a lawsuit.
If the issue is that your employer did not provide you with an appropriate private space to pump, you might have to provide it with a notice of non-compliance and 10 days to correct the issue before you can file a lawsuit.
In any case, I recommend documenting the situation and any communications or attempts you’ve made to notify your employer of your need for pumping breaks and a private area to pump. This will be helpful to your cause if your employer refuses to comply with the law and/or retaliates against you for requesting these accommodations.
Current Status
As of the writing of this blog post in March 2025, the PUMP Act is still in effect and nursing mothers’ right to pump at work is still protected.
The thing to be aware of is potential changes to that status that could take place over time. The PUMP Act is considered to be DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policy. With the recent focus on DEI policies at the federal employment level by the current administration and the reversal of multiple DEI Executive Orders that were enacted under the Biden administration, it raises questions about the future of all DEI policies and legislation that President Biden and other past presidents signed. Again, as of right now, the protections under the PUMP Act are still at play.