Last month we issued an article covering two federal laws, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) Act. You can find that article here. This article provides important updates on these laws to help covered employers remain compliant.
The PWFA goes live today, June 27, 2023! That law requires covered employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to pregnant employees and applicants who have known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an “undue hardship” (California’s pregnancy disability leave laws have no undue hardship defense). The PUMP Act expanded the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to broaden protections for lactating employees in the workplace.
The federal Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued PUMP Act guidance, which can be viewed here. This guidance provides employers with direct insight into how the DOL will enforce the federal PUMP Act and covers topics such as break time requirements, lactation compensation for exempt and non-exempt employees, provision of lactation space, exemptions from the PUMP Act and anti-retaliation protections.
Within the new guidance, employers should pay particular attention to the DOL’s posting requirements (see pgs. 8 and 9). As you know, employers with any employees covered by the FLSA’s minimum wage, overtime, or pump at work provisions must post and keep posted a notice explaining the FLSA in conspicuous places in every establishment where covered employees are employed. The DOL has now published an updated FLSA poster to reflect the PUMP Act requirements. The updated FLSA poster can be found here.
Employers can either download the updated notice and physically post it in a conspicuous location at the worksite, or they can do electronic posting so long as: (1) all of the employer’s employees exclusively work remotely; (2) all employees customarily receive information from the employer by electronic means; and (3) all employees have readily available access to electronic posting at all times. Employers should immediately review their currently posted FLSA poster and replace the August 2016 version of the FLSA poster with this updated version.
Relatedly, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has also recently updated its "Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination Is Illegal" with new information about the PWFA. That updated poster can be found here and should be posted starting today.
For questions or assistance with this or other employment law issues, contact the attorneys at LightGabler.
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