Arkansas: Lactation Break and Space Requirements
The short answer
Yes. Arkansas requires reasonable unpaid break time each day to express milk and reasonable efforts toward a private, secure, sanitary location close to the work area outside a toilet stall; the employee's normal workspace can qualify. Existing paid breaks remain paid when used to pump, the employee should minimize disruption, and undue hardship can excuse the break duty, while federal law separately supplies its each-time-needed one-year floor and broader bathroom/privacy standard.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Arkansas. Ezel applies current Arkansas law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| State law and federal interaction | Ark. Code § 11-5-116 requires daily pumping time and reasonable space efforts, with no state post-birth cutoff. Federal 29 U.S.C. § 218d independently requires time each time needed for 1 year and a functional non-bathroom space |
|---|---|
| Covered employers and employees | § 11-5-116 states no headcount, industry, occupation, hours, or tenure threshold. Undue hardship can excuse the break-time duty; the reasonable-effort space duty is separately stated. Federal coverage, fewer-than-50 hardship, and transportation provisions remain separate |
| Break frequency and duration window | Reasonable unpaid break time each day to maintain milk supply and comfort; concurrent with existing paid/unpaid breaks when possible. No fixed state minutes, number of sessions, child-age phrase, or post-birth cutoff; federal floor separately says each time needed for 1 year |
| Paid status and work during break | Additional Arkansas time is described as unpaid, but current state health guidance says an existing paid break remains paid when used to pump. Federal law also requires pay when duties continue |
| Space location and privacy | Reasonable effort toward a private, secure, sanitary room/location close to work, other than a toilet stall; normal workspace may qualify. State text does not exclude every bathroom or specify shielding from coworkers/public; federal law separately bars any bathroom and requires view/intrusion protection |
| Equipment, water, cooling, and access | No Arkansas pumping-specific chair, surface, outlet, sink, running-water, refrigerator, cooler, cleaning-supply, hazard, priority, or availability checklist beyond private/secure/sanitary space |
| Request, notice, policy, and response | Employee must make reasonable efforts to minimize operational disruption. No state request form, advance-notice period, interactive-process steps, written response/denial, policy, handbook, posting, recordkeeping, or fixed response deadline in § 11-5-116 |
| Job protection, enforcement, and remedies | § 11-5-116 states no lactation-specific interference or retaliation ban, agency complaint procedure, private action, damages, civil penalty, attorney-fee award, or cure period. Federal enforcement and remedies remain separate |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Arkansas requires daily time without a state child-age cutoff
Ark. Code § 11-5-116 requires reasonable unpaid break time each day for an
employee who needs to express milk for the employee's child to maintain milk
supply and comfort. When possible, the time runs concurrently with a paid or
unpaid break the employer already provides.
The statute states no fixed minutes, number of pumping sessions, or post-birth
cutoff. Federal 29 U.S.C. § 218d separately guarantees reasonable time each time
needed for one year after birth.
Arkansas's current health-department fact sheet explains the pay interaction:
an employer need not create paid pumping time, but an existing paid break stays
paid when it is used to pump. Federal law independently requires pay when the
employee continues performing duties.
The location may be the normal workspace
The employer must make a reasonable effort to provide a private, secure, and
sanitary room or other location close to the work area. A toilet stall cannot
qualify. The employee's normal workspace may qualify if it meets those standards.
Arkansas does not add a chair, pump surface, outlet, sink, running water,
refrigerator, cooler, supplies, room-use priority, or availability checklist.
The state text excludes a toilet stall, while the federal rule is broader and
excludes any bathroom.
Hardship and disruption duties are not symmetrical
Section 11-5-116(c) says undue hardship can excuse the employer from providing
break time. It does not use that exception for the separately stated reasonable-
effort location duty.
The employee must make reasonable efforts to minimize disruption to the
employer's operations. The section does not prescribe a request form, notice
period, response deadline, written denial, policy, handbook, posting, or
recordkeeping process.
What trips people up
“Unpaid” does not convert an existing paid break. Arkansas's official health
guidance says an already-paid break remains paid when used to pump.
A toilet-stall exclusion is narrower than the federal bathroom rule. The
federal statute bars the entire bathroom.
The hardship sentence addresses time. The room duty remains framed as a
reasonable-effort obligation rather than receiving the break-time exception.
Common questions
Does Arkansas stop protecting pumping after one year?
The state statute states no child-age cutoff. Federal law separately guarantees
its floor for one year after birth.
Must the Arkansas location have a refrigerator or outlet?
No. Section 11-5-116 lists neither item. It requires reasonable efforts toward a
private, secure, sanitary nearby location outside a toilet stall.
Does Arkansas specify a complaint or damages remedy?
Section 11-5-116 does not state a lactation-specific state complaint, private
action, damages, penalty, attorney-fee, or cure provision. Federal enforcement
remains separate.
Statutes and sources
- Ark. Code § 11-5-116 — time, concurrency, location, hardship, and employee
disruption duty.An employer shall provide reasonable unpaid break time each day to an
employee who needs to express breast milk.
Official source: https://labor.arkansas.gov/labor/labor-standards/nursing-mothers-breaks/ (accessed 2026-07-22)
- Arkansas Department of Health, Breastfeeding Laws in Arkansas — official
pay guidance and Act 621 summary.
if an employer already provides paid breaks to employees, they must pay when
those breaks are used to pump
Official source: https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Breastfeeding_Laws_in_AR.pdf (accessed 2026-07-22)
- 29 U.S.C. § 218d(a)-(c), (h) — federal time, space, pay, hardship, and
greater-protection rules.
Break time ... 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.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Arkansas handles this in general. Ezel applies current Arkansas law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.