Abstract Background Employed women tend to exclusively breastfeed less than non-employed women. Early returning to work has been major reason why employed women stop exclusive breastfeeding. The aim of this study was to investigate exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) cessation and associated factors among employed mothers in Dukem town, Central Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2015 using total sample of 313 randomly selected permanently employed women. Information regarding participants’ work-related factors, health service and sociodemographic factors were collected by face to face interview using structured questionnaire. Data were checked for completeness, entered and analyzed by SPSS version 20. Binary logistic regression was done to identify factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding cessation. The strength of association was measured using odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals. Results Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding cessation was 75.7% (95% CI 71.0, 80.5%). Having a short duration of maternity leave (AOR 9.3; 95% CI 3.8, 23), being a full time employee (AOR 3.5; 95% CI 1.7, 11), being private organization employee (AOR=2.1, 95% CI(1, 4.3)), lack of flexible work time (AOR 3.0; 95% CI 1.2, 7.5), not pumping breast milk (AOR 4.3; 95% CI 1.7, 11), lack of a lactation break (AOR 6.7; 95% CI 3,14.5) and work place far away from her child (AOR 3.1; 95% CI 3.1, 6.3), were significantly associated with cessation of EBF among employed mothers. Conclusion Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding cessation was much higher than the international and national expectation. The concerned governmental bodies should consider improving the legislation of the 3 months postpartum maternity leave to reduce employed mother’s exclusive breastfeeding cessation.