Workforce Bulletin

Effective May 8, 2025, New York City employers with four or more employees must physically post a copy of their written lactation policy in an area accessible to employees as well as on its intranet if one exists.

This new posting obligation is an addition to the City’s requirement that covered employers maintain a written lactation room accommodation policy that must be provided to new employees upon hire and New York State’s requirement to provide the policy annually. The City enacted legislation on November 9, 2024, effective 180 days later, amending existing provisions to require covered employers to make their written policies readily available to employees.

In addition, the legislation amended the ordinance to reflect 2024 changes in New York State law (explained in detail here) requiring employers to provide at least 30 minutes of paid break time for breast milk expression. While the New York City ordinance covers only New York City employers with four or more employees, be aware that obligations for paid lactation breaks under New York State Labor Law § 206-c apply to all employers in New York State.

The Tenth Circuit recently reaffirmed that employers may lawfully enforce a policy against surreptitious recordings.

In Spagnolia v. Charter Communications, LLC, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit unanimously affirmed a District of Colorado order granting employer Charter Communications, LLC’s (“Defendant”) summary judgment on claims filed by plaintiff Heather Spagnolia (“Spagnolia”), who asserted that she was fired in retaliation for making reasonable requests for lactation accommodations. The issue before the appellate court was whether Defendant’s proffered reason for terminating Spagnolia (secretly recording meetings with her supervisors in violation of company policy) was pretextual. 

Both courts agreed that Spagnolia’s violation of the policy against surreptitious recordings was a lawful basis for termination, and that Spagnolia failed to show that this was pretextual.

Background

In 2017, Spagnolia moved to Colorado to work for Defendant as a Regional Operations Center Specialist. From April to July 2019, Spagnolia took leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act to give birth to her second child. When she returned to work in July 2019, Spagnolia’s supervisor mistakenly permitted her to take paid lactation breaks, even though Defendant’s written policy provided for unpaid lactation breaks. During that time, Spagnolia’s lactation breaks lasted for an average of two hours per day, and sometimes up to three hours—in addition to her lunch break and regular paid breaks.

New York State has long required employers to support working mothers by providing certain accommodations for nursing employees. Last year, the State imposed a written lactation accommodation policy requirement on all employers, following the lead of New York City and California (among other jurisdictions) [see our Insight on the lactation accommodation legislation here]. As of June 19, 2024, employers’ obligations have again expanded: all New York State employers must provide 30 minutes of paid break time for employees to express breast milk for their nursing child for up to three years following the child’s birth.

The obligations are prescribed by an amendment to the State’s breastmilk expression law, New York Labor Law § 206-C (the “Law”), which was enacted as part of a package of legislation accompanying the New York State Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, signed into law on April 20, 2024 by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Shortly before the Law took effect, the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) published new materials under the headline “Breast Milk Expression in the Workplace,” including general information about the Law, a policy statement, information sheets for employees and employers, and frequently asked questions (FAQs).

On April 19, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or the “Commission”) published its final rule (“Final Rule”) and interpretive guidance to implement the  Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The Final Rule will take effect on June 18, 2024.

Although the PWFA borrows language and concepts that employers are already familiar with from existing federal protections, the Commission’s proposed rule to implement the PWFA (“Proposed Rule”), issued in August 2023, emphasized that the PWFA’s protections are broader and intended to cover ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently proposed regulations (the “Proposed Rule”) to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for additional conditions relating to pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. Issued on August 11, 2023, the Proposed Rule is currently open for public comment, and has, as of this writing, already received more  than 40,440 public submissions responding to the EEOC’s proposal. Many remarks address the fact that the EEOC included ...

It’s time for covered employers to update their Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) posters.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued an updated FLSA Minimum Wage Poster to reflect covered employers’ new lactation accommodation obligations under the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently published new resources regarding the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act). As we previously explained in detail, the PUMP Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to mandate that, unless an employer is specifically exempted under the law, the employer must provide reasonable break time to allow an employee to express breast milk, and must permit the employee to do so in a reasonably private location other than a bathroom.

July 1, 2020 represents a milestone for Virginia employers.  As we previously reported, nearly two dozen new employment laws take effect, including the Virginia Values Act.  In addition, all of Virginia enters Phase Three of Governor Ralph Northam’s Safer at Home plan to reopen the economy in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Changes to Virginia Employment Law

Employers with Virginia operations should take note of the following important changes:

1. Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Military Status, and Pregnancy: The Virginia Values Act amended the Virginia Human Rights Act

By Lauri F. Rasnick and Margaret C. Thering

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has once again turned its focus to caregiver discrimination.  On February 15, 2012, for the first time in nearly 30 years, the EEOC held a meeting about caregiver and pregnancy discrimination.  As “caregivers” are not specifically included as a “protected category” under any federal law, the EEOC discussed the various laws which would possibly prohibit certain caregiver discrimination, such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and ...