Lactation Break and Space Requirements in Oregon
At a glance
| State law and federal interaction | ORS 653.077 requires pumping breaks and reasonable efforts toward private space through the child's first 18 months; 2025 HB 2541 extended coverage to agricultural employees effective May 7, 2025. Federal 29 U.S.C. § 218d supplies a separate one-year floor |
|---|---|
| Covered employers and employees | No general headcount threshold; BOLI describes hourly, salaried, and part-time coverage, and § 653.077(8) includes executive/administrative/professional and agricultural employees. Employers with 10 or fewer employees may avoid the break duty if it causes undue hardship; space remains a reasonable-efforts duty |
| Break frequency and duration window | Reasonable rest period each time needed, until the employee's child is 18 months old; use existing rest/meal periods concurrently if feasible (§ 653.077(2), (7)) |
| Paid status and work during break | Additional time may be unpaid; otherwise-required paid rest periods stay paid up to the required amount. Employer may allow make-up work before/after shift; unpaid time need not be paid if not made up. Unpaid pumping time counts as paid work time when measuring hours that affect employer health-insurance contributions (§ 653.077(2)-(3)); federal law requires pay if duties continue |
| Space location and privacy | Reasonable efforts toward a private location close to the work area, not a public restroom or toilet stall. It may be the normal work area, a private lounge connected to a public restroom, or a nearby child-care facility (§ 653.077(5)) |
| Equipment, water, cooling, and access | No Oregon pumping-specific chair, surface, outlet, sink, water, refrigerator, cooler, cleanliness, hazard, or availability checklist in § 653.077; federal law separately requires a functional space available when needed |
| Request, notice, policy, and response | When possible, employee gives reasonable notice before returning after birth; failure to notify is not grounds for discipline (§ 653.077(2)(b)). No private-employer written-policy, handbook, posting, request-form, or response-deadline rule; school districts separately must adopt and publish a policy (§ 653.077(9)) |
| Job protection, enforcement, and remedies | Failure to give advance notice cannot be disciplined. ORS 653.060 bars discharge/discrimination for inquiries, reports, complaints, proceedings, or testimony related to chapter protections and permits a BOLI complaint; intentional § 653.077 violations can draw a civil penalty up to $1,000 (§ 653.256(2)). Federal remedies are separate |
Requirements one by one
Oregon covers hourly, salaried, professional, and agricultural employees
ORS § 653.077 has no general minimum headcount. BOLI describes the law as protecting hourly, salaried, and part-time workers, and subsection (8) expressly includes administrative, executive, professional, and agricultural employees. The agricultural coverage was added by 2025 HB 2541, effective May 7, 2025.
An employer with 10 or fewer employees may avoid the rest-period duty if it would impose significant difficulty or expense in relation to the business's size, financial resources, nature, or structure. The location duty has a different formulation: every employer must make “reasonable efforts,” which by definition need not impose undue hardship.
The break is available each time needed through 18 months
The employee receives a reasonable rest period each time there is a need to express milk, while the child is 18 months old or younger. If feasible, the employee uses the same time as an otherwise-provided rest or meal period.
The statute sets no fixed number of sessions or minutes. It also permits the employer to allow a temporary job-duty change when regular duties do not allow the employee to express milk; “may allow” does not make that change mandatory.
Pay depends on which time the employee uses
Oregon labels the additional periods unpaid, but preserves pay for rest time that law or contract already requires to be paid, up to the required paid amount. An employer may allow the employee to make up unpaid time before or after the normal shift. If the time is neither worked nor made up, Oregon does not require compensation for it.
There is a narrow benefit-accounting rule: if the employer's health-insurance contribution depends on hours worked, unpaid pumping periods count as paid work time for measuring those hours. Federal § 218d separately makes the entire period paid when the employee is not completely relieved from duty.
The location must be private and close to the work area
The employer must make reasonable efforts toward a private location in close proximity to the employee's work area. A public restroom or toilet stall cannot serve as the location.
The employee's ordinary work area may qualify if it is private. So may a lounge connected to a public restroom, or a nearby child-care facility, if the employee can express milk there in private. Oregon does not add a pumping-specific chair, surface, outlet, water, refrigerator, cooler, cleanliness, or hazard checklist; the federal functional-space standard remains separate.
Advance notice is expected when possible, but missing it is not disciplinable
When possible, the employee gives reasonable notice that the employee intends to express milk after returning from the child's birth. The statute expressly says failure to give that notice is not grounds for discipline.
Ordinary private employers have no lactation-specific written-policy, handbook, posting, request-form, or fixed response-deadline duty under § 653.077. School districts are a separate public-sector exception: their boards must adopt a policy, publish it in the employee handbook, and make the designated-location list available on request.
BOLI complaints, retaliation protection, and a civil penalty apply
ORS § 653.060 bars discharge or other discrimination because an employee inquired about, reported, complained about, started proceedings under, or testified about provisions in the statutory range that includes § 653.077. A violation is an unlawful employment practice, and the affected person may file a complaint with the Commissioner of BOLI.
Under ORS § 653.256(2), the commissioner may assess a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for an intentional violation of § 653.077 or its rules. The federal enforcement system remains separate.
What trips people up
“Unpaid” does not erase an existing paid rest period. Required paid rest time remains paid when used to express milk. Only additional off-duty time may fall into Oregon's unpaid rule.
The small-employer rule is not a blanket exemption. The 10-or-fewer hardship provision expressly addresses rest periods. The location provision separately requires reasonable efforts, already limited by its own hardship definition.
A room connected to a restroom is not automatically disqualified. The public restroom and toilet stall are barred, but a connected private lounge can qualify.
Common questions
Are Oregon agricultural workers covered?
Yes. The 2025 amendment expressly added individuals employed in agriculture, and it took effect May 7, 2025.
Can an employee make up unpaid pumping time?
The employer may allow make-up work before or after the normal shift. Oregon does not make that option mandatory.
Must the room contain a refrigerator, sink, or outlet?
ORS § 653.077 does not list those items. Federal law still requires a functional non-bathroom space that is available when needed, shielded from view, and free from intrusion.
Statutes and sources
- ORS § 653.077 — time, pay, insurance-hour accounting, hardship, location,
notice, 18-month window, agricultural coverage, and school-district policy.
“The employer shall provide the employee a reasonable rest period to express milk each time the employee has a need to express milk.”
Official source: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2541/Enrolled (accessed 2026-07-22) - ORS § 653.060 — discharge/discrimination protection and BOLI complaint.
A violation of this section is an unlawful employment practice under ORS chapter 659A.
Official source: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors653.html (accessed 2026-07-22) - ORS § 653.256(2) — civil penalty for intentional violations.
The commissioner may assess a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000.
Official source: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors653.html (accessed 2026-07-22) - Oregon BOLI, Breaks to express breast milk — current worker guidance and complaint route.
This law protects hourly, salaried, and part-time workers until the child you are expressing milk for is 18 months of age.
Official source: https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/pages/breaks-to-express-breast-milk.aspx (accessed 2026-07-22) - 29 U.S.C. § 218d(a)-(c), (h) — federal time, space, pay, hardship, and greater-protection rules.
Break time provided under subsection (a)(1) shall be considered hours worked if the employee is not completely relieved from duty during the entirety of such break.
Official source: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title29-section218d&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-22)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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