In accordance with section 206-C of the New York State Labor Law, the Department of Education has implemented procedures to meet the needs of nursing mothers in the workplace.
If you want to use break time to express breast milk at your workplace, you must contact your principal or manager as soon as possible, to notify them, arrange a break schedule, and find the location designated for expressing milk.
Please be aware of the following regulations:
A. School employees may use non-instructional time or break periods, including lunch breaks, to express breast milk for up to three years after child birth.
B. Each break to express breast milk shall last approximately twenty minutes, plus time for the employee to walk to and from the lactation room, although an employee can elect to take shorter breaks.
C. Employees who wish to express breast milk at the workplace must notify an appropriate DOE employee as soon as possible.
D. Employees are not entitled to absent themselves from their work areas for expression purposes without prior approval. When an employee needs to change a previously agreed upon schedule, the employee must obtain approval to do so.
E. This benefit is available to employees within the basic workweek as well as during any additional time worked, including per session hours. An employee may be required to work before or after her regularly scheduled work hours to make up the amount of time used during paid break times to express milk, so long as the additional time requested falls within regular DOE work hours.
F. An employee may be required to postpone a scheduled time to express breast milk for up to thirty minutes if she cannot be spared.
G. The lactation room or location identified for expressing breast milk must be private and in the same building as the employee’s work space.
H. Affected employees should be notified that they are entitled to this benefit. If you feel that you are not being given appropriate accommodations, then school-based staff should contact the HR Director at their Borough Offices and central staff should contact their personnel liaison.
For an overview of rights of nursing mothers in the workplace, please visit InfoHub: https://infohub.nyced.org/nyc-doe-topics/human-resources/employee-safety-and-health/rights-of-nursing-mothers-in-the-workplace