In a little discussed provision of the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, employers are required to give nursing mothers both “a reasonable break time… to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth,” and “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion… which may be used… to express breast milk.”
Although passed as part of the Health Care Act, the “Reasonable Break Time for Nursing Mothers” law is an amendment to the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. As such, it applies to all employers engaged in interstate commerce of at least $500,000 per year. The law provides an exemption for employers of under 50 employees who can show that the requirements will impose an undue hardship on the business.
This law is great news for nursing mothers who need to work but want to continue to breast-feed their babies. In passing the new provision Congress explicitly recognized both the health benefits of breast feeding children, and how inappropriate and unsanitary it is to compel nursing mothers to express milk in the bathroom.
Interestingly, the law specifies giving reasonable break time to “express breast milk” but has no provision for actually nursing a baby during work hours. I sense a test case on the horizon!
C. Megan Oltman, Esq.
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