diff --git a/include/posix/time.h b/include/posix/time.h
index ca1e262f1f..285d4ae44d 100644
--- a/include/posix/time.h
+++ b/include/posix/time.h
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 #ifdef __NEWLIB__
 /* Newever Newlib 3.x+ */
-#include <sys/_timespec.h>
+#include <sys/timespec.h>
 #else /* __NEWLIB__ */
 /* Workaround for older Newlib 2.x, as used by Xtensa. It lacks sys/_timeval.h,
  * so mimic it here.
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ struct timespec {
 	long tv_nsec;
 };
 
+struct itimerspec {
+	struct timespec it_interval;  /* Timer interval */
+	struct timespec it_value;     /* Timer expiration */
+};
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
@@ -38,33 +43,9 @@ struct timespec {
 
 #else /* CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC */
 /* Not Newlib */
-#include <sys/_timespec.h>
+#include <sys/timespec.h>
 #endif /* CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC */
 
-/* Older newlib's like 2.{0-2}.0 don't define any newlib version defines, only
- * __NEWLIB_H__ so we use that to decide if itimerspec was defined in
- * sys/types.h w/o any protection.  It appears sometime in the 2.3.0 version
- * of newlib did itimerspec move out of sys/types.h, however version 2.3.0
- * seems to report itself as __NEWLIB_MINOR__ == 2, where as 2.2.0 doesn't
- * even define __NEWLIB_MINOR__ or __NEWLIB__
- */
-#if !defined(__NEWLIB_H__) || (__NEWLIB__ >= 3) || \
-    (__NEWLIB__ == 2  && __NEWLIB_MINOR__ >= 2)
-
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-extern "C" {
-#endif
-
-struct itimerspec {
-	struct timespec it_interval;  /* Timer interval */
-	struct timespec it_value;     /* Timer expiration */
-};
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-}
-#endif
-
-#endif
-
 #include <kernel.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include "posix_types.h"
diff --git a/lib/libc/minimal/include/sys/timespec.h b/lib/libc/minimal/include/sys/timespec.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..20e6fdbb5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/libc/minimal/include/sys/timespec.h
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2019 Linaro Limited
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+#ifndef ZEPHYR_LIB_LIBC_MINIMAL_INCLUDE_SYS_TIMESPEC_H_
+#define ZEPHYR_LIB_LIBC_MINIMAL_INCLUDE_SYS_TIMESPEC_H_
+
+#include <sys/_timespec.h>
+
+struct itimerspec {
+	struct timespec it_interval;  /* Timer interval */
+	struct timespec it_value;     /* Timer expiration */
+};
+
+#endif /* ZEPHYR_LIB_LIBC_MINIMAL_INCLUDE_SYS_TIMESPEC_H_ */