Minnesota: Amendments to Pregnancy Accommodations

Minnesota employers are required to provide workers with certain pregnancy-related accommodations, including lactation breaks. As part of the Omnibus Jobs and Economic Growth Finance and Policy Bill, a new amendment expands on the existing protections in place.

More specifically, employers will be prohibited from reducing a lactating employee’s compensation for time spent expressing milk. Employers may request lactation breaks be scheduled concurrently with an employee’s normally schedule meal or rest periods but cannot dock the employee’s pay if the lactation break is taken outside those time frames. However, the employer’s obligation to accommodate lactation breaks is limited to the 12 months following the birth of an employee’s child.

Per the amendment, Minnesota’s regulations on nursing mothers, lactating employees, and pregnancy accommodations apply to all employers with at least 15 employees. The amendment removes any minimum service hours an employee must work per week in order to qualify for accommodations or protections under the statute.

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