AN ACT CONCERNING BREASTFEEDING IN THE WORKPLACE, PRE AND POST-SHIFT HOURS AND ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE TO STUDY WORKPLACE HEAT SAFETY STANDARDS.

Senate
SB345 / File No. 351 1

General Assembly File No. 351
February Session, 2026 Senate Bill No. 345

Senate, April 2, 2026

The Committee on Labor and Public Employees reported
through SEN. KUSHNER of the 24th Dist., Chairperson of the
Committee on the part of the Senate, that the bill ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING BREASTFEEDING IN THE WORKPLACE,
PRE AND POST-SHIFT HOURS AND ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE
TO STUDY WORKPLACE HEAT SAFETY STANDARDS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 31 -40w of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 2
(a) [Any employee may, at her discretion,] An employer shall provide 3
a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for such 4
employee's nursing child or breastfeed on site at [her] such employee's 5
workplace [during her meal or break period ] each time such employee 6
has the need to express breast milk or breastfeed. 7
(b) An employer shall make reasonable efforts to provide a room or 8
other location, in close proximity to the work area, other than a toilet 9
stall, where the employee can express [her] such employee's milk in 10
private, and provided there is no undue hardship, such room or other 11
location shall (1) be free from intrusion and shielded from the public 12
SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 2

while such employee expresses breast milk, (2) include or be situated 13
near a refrigerator or employee -provided portable cold storage device 14
in which the employee can store [her] such employee's breast milk, and 15
(3) include access to an electrical outlet. 16
(c) An employer shall not discriminate against, discipline or take any 17
adverse employment action against any employee because such 18
employee has elected to exercise [her] such employee's rights under 19
subsection (a) of this section. 20
(d) As used in this section, "employer" means a person engaged in 21
business who has one or more employees, including the state and any 22
political subdivision of the state; "employee" means any person engaged 23
in service to an employer in the business of the employer; "reasonable 24
efforts" means any effort that would not impose an undue hardship on 25
the operation of the employer's business; and "undue hardship" means 26
any action that requires significant difficulty or expense when 27
considered in relation to factors such as the size of the business, its 28
financial resources and the nature and structure of its operation. 29
Sec. 2. Subdivision (2) of section 31 -76b of the general statutes is 30
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 31
1, 2026): 32
(2) (A) "Hours worked" [include] includes all time during which an 33
employee is required by the employer to be on the employer's premises 34
or to be on duty, or to be at the prescribed work place, and all time 35
during which an employee is employed or permitted to work, whether 36
or not required to do so, provided time allowed for meals shall be 37
excluded unless the employee is required or permitted to work. Such 38
time includes, but shall not be limited to, (i) the time when an employee 39
is required to wait on the premises while no work is provided by the 40
employer, and (ii) the time an employee spends in security screenings 41
required by an employer . (B) All time during which an employee is 42
required to be on call for emergency service at a location designated by 43
the employer shall be considered to be working time and shall be paid 44
for as such, whether or not the employee is actually called upon to work. 45
SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 3

(C) When an employee is subject to call for emergency service but is not 46
required to be at a location designated by the employer but is simply 47
required to keep the employer informed as to the location at which he 48
may be contacted, or when an employee is not specifically required by 49
his employer to be subject to call but is contacted by his employer or on 50
the employer's authorization directly or indirectly and assigned to duty, 51
working time shall begin when the employee is notified of his 52
assignment and shall end when the employee has completed his 53
assignment. (D) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subdivision, 54
when an individual employed by a third -party provider to provide 55
"companionship services", as defined in the regulations of the federal 56
Fair Labor Standards Act, is required to be present at a worksite for a 57
period of not less than twenty -four consecutive hours, such individual 58
and his or her employer may agree in writing to exclude a regularly 59
scheduled sleeping period of not more than eight hours from hours 60
worked, provided (i) adequate on -site sleeping facilities are furnished 61
to such individual, and (ii) such individual receives at least five hours 62
of sleep time. If the scheduled sleeping period is more than eight hours, 63
only eight hours will be excluded. If the scheduled sleeping period is 64
interrupted by an assignment to work, the interruption shall be counted 65
as hours worked. If such individual does not receive at least five hours 66
of sleep time during the scheduled sleeping period, the entire sleeping 67
period shall be considered hours worked. The provisions of this 68
subparagraph shall be effective on and after the effective date of the 69
United States Department of Labor's Final Rule concerning the 70
Application of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service 71
published in the Federal Register of October 1, 2013; 72
Sec. 3. ( Effective from passage ) (a) There is established a task force to 73
study and provide recommendations on the establishment of heat safety 74
standards for workplaces. The study shall include, but need not be 75
limited to, an examination of (1) best practices to prevent employee 76
exposure to the risk of heat illness, and (2) laws and regulations 77
governing heat safety standards implemented in other states. 78
(b) The task force shall consist of the following members: 79
SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 4

(1) The chairpersons and ranking members of the joint standing 80
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 81
relating to labor and public employees, or their designees; 82
(2) One appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, 83
who is a member of an organization that advocates for the prevention 84
of sudden death from exertional heat stroke; 85
(3) One appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate; 86
(4) One appointed by the majority leader of the House of 87
Representatives; 88
(5) One appointed by the majority leader of the Senate; 89
(6) One appointed by the minority leader of the House of 90
Representatives; 91
(7) One appointed by the minority leader of the Senate; and 92
(8) The Labor Commissioner, or the commissioner's designee. 93
(c) Any member of the task force appointed under subdivision (2), 94
(3), (4), (5), (6) or (7) of subsection (b) of this section may be a member 95
of the General Assembly. 96
(d) All initial appointments to the task force shall be made not later 97
than thirty days after the effective date of this section. Any vacancy shall 98
be filled by the appointing authority. 99
(e) The chairpersons of the joint standing committee of the General 100
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to labor and public 101
employees, or their designees, shall be the chairpersons of the task force. 102
Such chairpersons shall schedule the first meeting of the task force, 103
which shall be held not later than sixty days after the effective date of 104
this section. 105
(f) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 106
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to labor and 107
SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 5

public employees shall serve as administrative staff of the task force. 108
(g) Not later than January 1, 2027, the task force shall submit a report 109
on its findings and recommendations to the joint standing committee of 110
the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to labor 111
and public employees, in accordance with the provisions of section 11 -112
4a of the general statutes. The task force shall terminate on the date that 113
it submits such report or January 1, 2027, whichever is later. 114
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 31-40w
Sec. 2 October 1, 2026 31-76b(2)
Sec. 3 from passage New section

LAB Joint Favorable

SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 6

The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note

State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $
Labor Dept. GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
Minimal Minimal
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill makes modifications to breastfeeding in the workplace
regulations, the definition of "hours worked" with regard to security
screenings, and it establishes a task force to study heat safety standards.
This results in a potential minimal revenue gain to the Department of
Labor (DOL) starting in FY 27.
Section 1 requires employers to provide reasonable break time for
breastfeeding employees. This results in a potential minimal revenue
gain from civil penalties to the extent violations are found, and penalties
are paid1.
Section 2 modifies the definition of "hours worked" to include the
time an employee spends in security screenings required by an
employer. This does not result in any fiscal impact as the DOL already
recognizes and enforces time spent in security screenings as hour s
worked.
Section 3 establishes a task force to study heat safety standards for

1 Under current law, the Department of Labor can assess a civil penalty of $300. There
have not been civil penalties collected over the past few years.
SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 7

workplaces. This does not result in any fiscal impact to the state as
members have the necessary expertise to carry out the requirements of
this section.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to violations found and penalties paid.

SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 8

OLR Bill Analysis
SB 345

AN ACT CONCERNING BREASTFEEDING IN THE WORKPLACE,
PRE AND POST -SHIFT HOURS AND ESTABLISHING A TASK
FORCE TO STUDY WORKPLACE HEAT SAFETY STANDARDS.

SUMMARY
This bill addresses three unrelated labor topics.
First, it requires employers to provide a reasonable break time for an
employee to express breastmilk for the employee’s nursing child or to
breastfeed at the workplace each time the employee needs to do so.
Current law allows an employee to express breastmilk or breastfeed
during her meal or break period. Existing law, unchanged by the bill,
requires an employer to make reasonable efforts to provide a room or
location near the work area, except a toilet stall, that (1) is private, (2)
has or is near a refr igerator or other employee -provided portable cold
storage device, and (3) has access to an electrical outlet. This generally
aligns with federal law that requires a reasonable break time and a
private space other than a bathroom to express breast milk for up to one
year after a child’s birth (29 USC § 218d).
Second, it specifies that “hours worked” also includes time an
employee spends in security screenings required by an employer. Under
state overtime law, an employee’s “hours worked” includes all time that
the employee must be on the employer’s premises, including tim e that
the employee must wait on the premises while no work is provided by
the employer (see BACKGROUND).
Lastly, the bill creates a taskforce to study heat safety. The task force
must consider (1) best practices to prevent heat illness in employees and
(2) other states’ laws and regulations on heat safety standards.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026, except the taskforce provision is
SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 9

effective upon passage.
HEAT SAFETY TASKFORCE
Membership
The bill requires the task force to include:
1. the chairpersons and ranking members of the Labor and Public
Employees Committee or their designees;
2. the labor commissioner or her designee;
3. one member appointed by the House speaker who is a member
of an organization that advocates for the prevention of sudden
death from exertional heat stroke; and
4. one member appointed by each of the other five legislative
leaders (Senate president pro tempore, House majority and
minority leaders, and Senate majority and minority leaders).
Under the bill, all appointed members may be legislators, and all
initial appointments must be made within 30 days of the bill’s passage.
Any vacancies must be filled by the appointing authority.
Requirements
The bill requires the Labor and Public Employees Committee
chairpersons or their designees to serve as the task force’s chairpersons
and schedule and hold the first meeting within 60 days of the bill’s
passage. The Labor and Public Employees Committee’s administrative
staff must serve in this capacity for the task force.
The bill requires the task force to report its findings and
recommendations to the Labor and Public Employees Committee by
January 1, 2027. Under the bill, the task force ends when it submits the
report or January 1, 2027, whichever is later.
BACKGROUND
Connecticut Supreme Court Case on Pre- and Post- Shift Hours
The Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled that employees must
SB345 File No. 351

SB345 / File No. 351 10

be compensated for time spent in mandatory security screenings on
their employer ’s premises (Del Rio v. Amazon.com Services, Inc . (SC
21109) February 10, 2026).
Related Bill
sHB 5003 (§41), favorably reported by the Labor and Public
Employees Committee, has an identical provision on breastfeeding and
expressing milk in the workplace.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/17/2026)