I receive email alerts from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that include information on upcoming webinars. Most of them cost money to attend. But every once in a while, there’s a freebie.
Like this one.
You can still register here to join us today, April 19, 2024, at Noon ET. Along with my partner, Amy Epstein Gluck, I will discuss the final rule that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency tasked with enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), released earlier this week.
Among the topics we’ll cover: Continue reading
Among the top employment issues that companies will need to navigate in 2024 is enforcing laws that have more recently taken effect.
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a series of August events highlighting the importance of maternal health and workplace protections for expectant and new mothers to mark National Breastfeeding Month. Continue reading
Well, not all new moms; just the non-exempt workers; i.e., the overtime-eligible employees. But, new bipartisan legislation proposed last week in the Senate will change all that. Continue reading
Beukbeuk [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
Heads up, Philly employers! This new law takes effect right away!
Read all about it after the jump…
Back in 2010, when the The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act went into effect, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was amended to require a “reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk.”
Generally, employers are not required to compensate an employee for the break time to express milk, and an employer with fewer than 50 employees does not have to comply with the rule if it would pose an undue hardship.
One more minor caveat — of which I must admit, I was not aware — the law only covers non-exempt employees. (Although, I imagine that most businesses afford the same dignity to exempt employees too).
HEY! Which one of you just threw that breast pump at my head?
[annnnnnnd cue music]
** Dons sensitivity invisibility cloak **
That according to a a new survey from The National Partnership for Women & Families.
The survey compared how state-based rights and protections compare to the 12 weeks of leave for new and expecting parents provided by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the protections provided by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), and the right to express breast milk at work provided to some nursing mothers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The report card covers all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. No state earned an A. Only 1/3 scored a C- or higher, while more than 1/3 flat-out failed. The highest grades went to California and Connecticut, each earning an A-. Locally, New Jersey ranked near the top with a B+, while Pennsylvania scraped by with a D.
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