From time to time, the Wage and Hour Division issues "fact sheets" on certain topics. The latest topic addresses the provision in the Health Care Reform bill requiring employer to provide a "reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk" for up to 1 year after the child's birth. The Wage and Hour Fact sheet does not go into too much detail.
The Fact Sheet states: "Only employees who are not exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements are entitled to breaks to express milk." So exempt employees need not, as a matter of federal law, be provided with breaks. That is not clear from the statutory language.
Tennessee law makes no such distinction but the federal provision has some teeth for non-exempt employees because it is an amendment to the minimum wage provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act. This means there is a private right of action but it is not clear what damages could be collected or whether any penalty could be imposed if the employer fails to provide the breaks.
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