Utah's Workplace Break Rules

Fair Labor Standards Act

The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA is the set of federal rules and regulations that certain private sector employers must follow concerning minimum wage, overtime provisions, the Family and Medical Leave Act, recordkeeping and employment records retention. The aspects of employment for which there are no federal provisions are workplace breaks and meal periods. Under the FLSA, employers are not required to provide for employee breaks or meal periods.

With one exception, Utah employment laws do not require employers to provide breaks or meal periods to employees. The only exception is that workers under the age of 18 are entitled to a 10-minute break period for every three hours of work, as well as a meal period of at least 30-minutes upon completing five hours of work. Adult workers -- those over the age of 18 -- are not entitled to breaks or meal periods under Utah employment law.

President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law in March 2010. The Act amended the FLSA by including provisions intended to help ensure better health for babies and nursing mothers. Under the health care reform act, nursing mothers may not be prohibited from taking breaks to express breast milk or nurse their babies in public or private areas. Employers are, therefore, required to adhere to the federal law and in response to the act, many states enacted similar legislation to protect the rights of nursing mothers for up to one year after the birth of a child.

Long before the health care reform laws were put into place, Utah already had regulations that protect the rights of nursing mothers. In 1995, the Utah state legislature enacted Section 17-15-25 of the Utah State Code that permits mothers to nurse their babies and express milk in public or private areas, which includes the workplace. Although the Utah breastfeeding law was not solely intended to create provisions that implement new rules for break periods in the workplace, the laws apply to all nursing mothers including nursing mothers who are employees. Therefore, the Utah laws essentially create another exception to Utah law concerning workplace breaks.