Most employers want to offer support for new mothers returning to work, including those who choose to breastfeed. But finding and providing a private place for expressing milk has been a problem in many facilities.
Nevertheless, that private place has to be found, because the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) require employers to provide an appropriate location.
DOL requires that employers provide time and a place, other than a bathroom, for employees to express milk that is shielded from view and has a place to sit, a flat surface other than the floor for a breast pump, and an electrical outlet.
In today’s Advisor, breastfeeding consultant and expert Michele Griswold, MPH, RN, IBCLC, helps employers understand their obligations to breastfeeding mothers. Griswald who is chair of the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition, shared her remarks during a recent interview with BLR Editor Elaine Quayle.
What DOL Requires
EQ: What can employers who want to create a breastfeeding-friendly work environment for nursing employees do to ensure privacy in their facilities?
MG: Privacy is of utmost importance for breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. Some mothers may have the use of their own office with a lock, but others may need to express milk in another area.
Whatever room is designated for breastfeeding mothers should be equipped with a lock and be free from intrusion from other employees, and it should never be a restroom.
Some employers are overwhelmed thinking about starting a lactation program for employees because they don’t realize that a 4’ x 5’ space has been identified as adequately sized for the purpose of expressing milk.
The room should have an electrical outlet and a sink nearby for hand washing and washing pump parts, and that’s about it. Businesses should create their own policies based on their individual working environments, and there is room for creativity!
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EQ: What additional amenities should companies consider to improve comfort and privacy for nursing mothers using rooms designated for lactation?
MG: It’s very important for employers to know that breastfeeding mothers need very few amenities besides a chair, the necessary privacy considerations, and a nearby sink, and that creating breastfeeding-friendly environments is not a difficult process.
Some employers choose to provide other amenities such as music players and artwork, but for others that is not a priority. It’s important for employers to get input from the employees who will be using the room to determine what, if anything, outside the minimum is necessary. My guess is that breastfeeding employees would choose flexible break times over a cushy chair anytime!
EQ: How can HR staff get buy-in from upper management to support making improvements?
MG: Implementing lactation programs in the workplace has become a hot topic as employers are now required by federal law to provide accommodations for breastfeeding employees. HR staff should become very familiar with the program, The Business Case for Breastfeeding, at womenshealth.gov.
The reality is that lactation support in the workplace is a win-win.
Upper management will likely be interested in the bottom line. That is, how does supporting breastfeeding in the workplace work for the business? That of course, is a very appropriate question for businesses.
Research has shown that lactation accommodations in the workplace are highly valued by employed mothers. Companies who have lactation programs experience ROI through lower employee absenteeism (because the children who are breastfed are healthier), higher rates of employee retention (because employees are more satisfied), employees returning to work sooner after birth, and lower health insurance claims.
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EQ: In addition to space, doesn’t DOL also require time for breastfeeding?
MG: Yes, DOL requires that employers provide not only space, but also time for breastfeeding. Time is a key factor, and is one of the barriers that many mothers faced before the PPACA, says Griswold. Under the PPACA, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act was amended to require that employers provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth, each time the employee needs to express milk (29 USC Sec. 207).
DOL has stated that it expects that nursing mothers typically will need breaks to express milk two to three times during an 8-hour shift, and that longer shifts will require additional breaks to express milk.
Griswold concluded that providing a place for nursing mothers at work is not difficult. “To remove barriers that mothers experience in the workplace requires a collaborative approach … to offer simple environmental changes in the workplace.”
In tomorrow’s Advisor, Griswold discusses two other topics concerning lactation room—refrigeration for expressed milk and sound issues with breast pumps—and we introduce the all-HR-in-one website, HR.BLR.com.
“It’s very important for employers to know that breastfeeding mothers need very few amenities …” To the extent employers resist providing the breaks, it seems like it’s based on the misconception that they have to provide some kind of deluxe space for lactation accommodations.
What about jobs where employment takes place in the private home in the community, such as an in-home nurse service? The employer cannot force the homeowner to make such accommodations. What are our options, or is this type of work exempt?