Bill > HB2541

This bill expands workplace protections for agricultural workers who need to express breast milk for their child, amending existing Oregon law to explicitly include agricultural workers in the rights previously afforded to administrative, executive, and professional employees. The bill requires employers to provide reasonable unpaid rest periods for milk expression, with the breaks ideally taken concurrently with existing rest or meal periods. Employers must make reasonable efforts to provide a private location for milk expression that is not a public restroom, which could include the employee's work area, a connected room, or a nearby child care facility. The law applies to employees expressing milk for children 18 months old or younger and stipulates that if unpaid rest periods are used, employers may allow employees to make up the time before or after their normal shift. The bill also requires that if an employer's health insurance contribution is based on hours worked, unpaid milk expression breaks should be treated as paid work time. For employers with 10 or fewer employees, an exemption exists if providing these breaks would cause undue hardship. An emergency clause is included, meaning the law will take effect immediately upon passage, highlighting the urgent need to support working mothers in the agricultural sector.

Business and Industry, Labor and Employment

https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Measures/Overview/HB2541