Legal Reform for Nursing Mothers

Workplace Buzz on June 28, 2007 7:13 AM

The New York state Senate recently passed a bill that will allow women to pump breast milk while on breaks at their workplaces, writes Sarah Wolff for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

The bill, called the “Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act,” will permit women to take paid or unpaid work breaks in order to express breast milk up until their child is 2 years old. The bill also mandates that employers must create spaces for the nursing mothers to pump, discouraging them from inadvertently forcing nursing women to pump milk in bathroom stalls or storage areas.

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) supports the bill, adding that if a woman who nurses is unable to pump milk during the day, she will slowly stop producing it until she ceases to lactate milk altogether, creating a possible health risk to her child.

The Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act will apply to both public and private employers in New York State. The bill was passed by the State Assembly on March 26, 2007, and will be given to Gov. Elliot Spitzer to sign into law.

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