A little-known amendment on workplace lactation sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley became law with the passage of health care reform by Congress last month. Since then, there have been a trickle of articles discussing the new federal requirement, what it means for the business community, and why workplace lactation has been such an obstacle for new mothers.
In a New York Times Magazine article “Motherlode,” Lisa Belkin explains the new requirement:
Section 4207 of the [health care] bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to include the guarantee of “a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk,” for nonexempt hourly workers, and also the stipulation that this be done in “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public.”
This provision applies to all employers, and employees are not guaranteed pay for the time they take to breastfeed. However, this is a major victory for breastfeeding advocates and for working moms who have faced a challenging time breastfeeding at work.
Erin Grace details some of the challenges faced by working moms so far in an article published by the Omaha World-Herald, “Breastfeeding Moms Get a Break.”
Yet breast-feeding rates fall off a cliff by the time an infant turns 3 months old. Not coincidentally, that’s when working mothers run out of time off under the Family Medical Leave Act.
Some women in lower-paying, service-oriented positions either don’t ask for the time to pump or are denied it, said Diane Rosenthal, coordinator of the Women, Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program at the Charles Drew Health Center near North 30th and Grant Streets.
“I think a lot of them stop before they decide to go back to work because they don’t want to fool with it,” she said.
Others, however, were luckier. Larger employers that already implemented lactation programs years ago will not be hurt or affected by the new federal requirement.
First National Bank of Omaha has had [a lactation program] since 1994. Some 40 employees and their spouses, if they wish are currently using the bank’s services: lactation rooms with a fridge and glider chair, lactation consultant, discount on nursing products and $50 off the Medela Pump In Style, which currently retails at Target for about $280.
At ConAgra Foods, employees can reserve private lactation rooms via the computer. The company pays for the first six months of breast-pump rental and provides access to a lactation consultant and a 24-hour nurse line.
Corporate Voices for Working Families applauds these businesses for offering lactation programs, and for understanding that they are not only good for working families, they are good for business. Lactation programs help new mothers integrate back into the workplace, increase employee engagement and morale, and help reduce illnesses and sick days taken.
It is for these reasons that Corporate Voices published a workplace lactation toolkit that offers a practical, user-friendly guide for managers telling them how and why to start a lactation program, and it offers information to new mothers about how and why to breastfeed, and how to talk to others about it.
As not all businesses will immediately know about the new federal lactation requirement, Corporate Voices will work to educate the business community about it, and will continue to explain the benefits workplace lactation offers to both businesses and employees.
Three Corporate Voices’ partner companies – Marriott International, Sodexo and Children’s Creative Learning Centers – are among the first winners of the Best Companies for Hourly Workers recognition. They are joined by McDonald’s USA, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, and UNM Hospitals.
In addition, our corporate partner Johnson & Johnson is being recognized as a Spotlight Award Winner because of its innovative support for the men and women in hourly positions throughout their company.
When Corporate Voices initiated this Best Companies for Hourly Workers recognition in partnership with Working Mother Media, we wanted to highlight those companies that set the standard for best practices for hourly workers. Clearly, these winning organizations do just that. They offer hourly workers benefits such as health insurance and company-matching 401(k)s, as well as paid vacation and sick days, tuition assistance, flexible spending accounts and flexible work schedules.
Also, we wanted to use this recognition as a way to engage business leaders and policymakers in an important discussion about hourly workers and their role in our nation’s economic competitiveness.
Winning companies will be honored on May 4 at a luncheon at the Mayflower Hotel hosted by Marriott and sponsored by Corporate Voices.
The luncheon will also include an interactive panel discussion with business executives on hourly worker and lower-wage issues that will be hosted by Corporate Voices. We are pleased that Marriott CEO J.W. Marriott Jr. has agreed to participate in this event.
The winners also will be highlighted in the May issue of Working Mother magazine.
Congratulations to the Best Companies for Hourly Workers.
The health care legislation enacted by Congress provides a number of new guarantees and safeguards for women who elect to breastfeed at work. And Corporate Voices for Working Families has available a Workplace Lactation Toolkit with instructions, tips and template materials (in English and Spanish). The Toolkit includes recommendations for employers on how to support employees with breastfed babies, guidance for working mothers who breastfeed, and other resources.
Lisa Belkin on her New York Times Motherlode blog has an informative post — “New Rules About Breast Pumps at Work” — that provides considerable context and perspective and highlights the difficulty that many hourly workers have with breastfeeding at work. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Writing about the difficulty that hourly workers have finding the time and space to pump breast milk while at work, my colleague Jodi Kantor noted several years ago that while it was admirable that a former Massachusetts governor, Jane Swift, had breast-fed after returning to work, doing so was more complicated for women lower on the ladder — those who work behind fast-food counters, in catalog call centers, on factory floors or as waitresses and soldiers.
“That’s a great thing to do, but she had her own office and could set her own schedule,” one doctor is quoted as saying of Swift. “The one I want to know about is the lady cleaning her office.”
Well, that lady is now guaranteed the right to use a breast pump at work, the result of the health care bill passed by Congress last month. Section 4207 of the bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to include the guarantee of “a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk,” for nonexempt hourly workers, and also the stipulation that this be done in “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public.”
And for more perspective on this subject and on the work and involvement of Corporate Voices, here’s our recent blog post: “Breastfeeding in the Workplace–Saving Lives, Improving Business.”
A little-known amendment on workplace lactation sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley became law with the passage of health care reform by Congress last month. Since then, there have been a trickle of articles discussing the new federal requirement, what it means for the business community, and why workplace lactation has been such an obstacle for new mothers.
