California Guide · Updated 2026
California Lactation Accommodation Requirements
California has detailed, enforceable rules for supporting employees who need to express milk at work — including what the space must look like and a written policy you have to maintain.
The requirement (Labor Code §§1030–1034)
Employers must provide reasonable break time and a private space (not a bathroom), close to the employee's work area, to express milk, for as long as the employee needs it.
What the space must include
- Safe, clean, and free of hazardous/toxic materials;
- A place to sit and a surface to place a pump and personal items;
- Access to electricity; and access to a sink and refrigeration nearby.
Policy and denial
Maintain a written lactation-accommodation policy and distribute it (in the handbook and to new employees). Denying reasonable break time or space is treated as a rest-period violation — a one-hour premium per day. The small-employer undue-hardship exemption is narrow.
Federal overlay
The federal PUMP Act provides parallel break-time and space protections; where both apply, follow the rule more protective of the employee.
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