As you know, effective June 19, 2024, the state of New York requires employers to provide paid breaks for breastfeeding employees to express milk. Specifically, employers must provide 30 minutes of paid break time for such purposes, and must permit employees to use other paid breaks or meal time to express breast milk whenever they reasonably need to, for any duration exceeding 30 minutes.
The state’s Department of Labor has posted a revised model policy: New York State Department of Labor’s Policy on the Rights of Employees to Express Breast Milk in the Workplace. Employers are required to provide this policy in writing to all employees when they are hired and again every year after. Employers are also required to provide the policy to employees as soon as they return to work following the birth of a child.
