As of January 1, 2022, Minnesota mothers and expecting mothers have increased protections in the workplace. These increased protections are due to an expansion of the Women’s Economic Security Act, which was initially enacted into law in 2014. Among other provisions, the Act originally expanded pregnancy and parental leave, allowed women to bring civil actions to enforce their right to express milk in the workplace, and prohibited employers from retaliating against employees for discussing their wages with one another.
While these original provisions greatly expanded the rights of mothers and other employees, they did not go far enough. To fix that problem, the expanded on certain provisions of the Act by: (1) making new employees immediately eligible for pregnancy-related accommodations upon hire; (2) increasing the availability of pregnancy-related accommodations by lowering the threshold employee amount from 21 employee to 15 employees in a specific worksite; and (3) prohibiting employers from reducing an employee’s compensation for time used for expressing milk.
Immediate Availability of Pregnancy-Related Accommodations
Arguably the most important expansion of rights for pregnant women was making pregnancy-related accommodations available to women immediately upon hire. Previously, many employers required women to wait an entire year before being eligible for pregnancy-related accommodations (e.g., more frequent restroom breaks, food and water breaks, and limits on heavy lifting). This had the effect of not only discouraging women from applying or accepting jobs in certain workplaces, but also causing undue stress and hardship at an already difficult time if an employee were to accept a position with this arbitrary 1-year waiting period. Accordingly, the Minnesota legislature, following the lead of an important court decision, specifically provided that many employers must immediately provide pregnancy-related accommodations—even for new hires.
More Employers Are Required to Provide Pregnancy-Related Accommodations
In addition to more pregnant employees being eligible for pregnancy-related accommodations, the revised Act also expanded the number of employers that must provide accommodations to pregnant women with health conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. Under previous Minnesota law, employers only needed to provide pregnancy/childbirth-related accommodations in the workplace if they had 21 or more employees in one workplace, but this law lowered that number to 15.
Mandatory Paid Break Time to Express Milk at Work
This law also provided that certain employers must provide paid break time for nursing and lactating mothers to express milk at work. Generally, employees must first utilize their scheduled paid break time, but employee are eligible for additional paid break time if they need additional time to express milk. This change, however, does not convert regular unpaid break times, such as meal breaks, into paid break time.
If you have any questions regarding your legal rights under the expanded Women’s Economic Security Act, you will be well-served by speaking with one of our employment attorneys. Our extensive experience navigating an employee rights and women’s rights will give you the assurance that you receive all accommodations to which you are entitled and that your employer will be held accountable if they take any adverse action against you for asserting your rights.
