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.

To be compliant, the lactation policy must clearly state that employees have the right to request a private space to express breast milk and outline the steps for making such a request. The policy should also inform employees that the employer will provide 30 minutes of paid break time for employees to express breast milk and shall further permit an employee to use existing paid breaks or mealtime if additional time is needed, as required under state law.

The mandatory 30-minute paid break is additional to any regular paid break time. Moreover, the law requires employers to allow employees to take further breaks (paid or unpaid) sufficient for their needs, unless doing so poses an undue hardship. These issues are addressed in updated FAQs released by the New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) (see especially Qs 7-10). As a reminder, if providing a lactation room would pose an undue hardship, employers must inform employees of their obligation to engage in a cooperative dialogue with the employee to find a suitable solution.

Notably, as of this posting, the NYCCHR guidance page regarding lactation accommodations still links old versions of the downloadable model policies that do not reflect the law’s requirement for paid breaks. As such, employers may wish, at least at this time, not to rely on the City’s model policies in order to effectuate this requirement.

We are ready to help you develop a compliant lactation policy tailored to your needs and guide you through the new posting requirement. The following chart summarizes the State and City requirements regarding posting and distributing the policy:

Posting/Distribution

NYS

NYC

Distributing upon hire

X*

X*

Distributing annually

X

 

Distributing upon return from parental leave

X

 

Physical posting of policy at workplace

 

X

Electronic posting of policy

 

X


* New York City-based employers must also distribute a Notice of Pregnancy Accommodations at Work poster to new hires. If available, this poster must be provided in the employee’s native language.


Staff Attorney Elizabeth A. Ledkovsky contributed to this post.

Back to Workforce Bulletin Blog

Search This Blog

Blog Editors

Authors

Related Services

Topics

Archives

Jump to Page

Subscribe

Sign up to receive an email notification when new Workforce Bulletin posts are published:

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.