Breastfeeding Discrimination at Work – Pregnant employees might face discrimination towards their pregnancy in their working environment. Nowadays, discrimination towards pregnancy is against the law. The employers that treat you unfairly because you are pregnant, breastfeeding your baby, expressing milk, or make arrangement to breastfeed or express milk are breaking the law. It is also breaking the law for people, who have relative, friend associate, or work colleague who is pregnant or breastfeeding, treat them unfairly. According to NSW law, pregnancy and breastfeeding discrimination at work are included to intercourse discrimination type.
For your information, indirect pregnancy and breastfeeding discrimination are also against the law. It is applied when there is a rule or requirement which gives disadvantages to people who are pregnant or breastfeeding more than people who are not. The employers must have the ability to prove the rule or requirement is reasonable for all circumstances. Many states have their own regulation which mandates the employers not to discriminate workers who are breastfeeding. According to the laws, the employers must provide place and time for female employees to breastfeed their infant children or express milk for their babies while at work. The law related to breastfeeding discrimination at work is signed by President Obama in March of 2010 as the part of health care reform legislation. The law stated it is illegal for employers in the country to discriminate against lactating mothers.
Federal Law of Breastfeeding Discrimination at Work
The federal law is established as the part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It stated that mothers in working environment must receive adequate time and private place to express milk for their babies. The law makes modification on the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. It is better for you to know the law is only applied to mothers who bring breast pumping apparatuses to work. It is not applied for mothers who are actually breastfeeding their children at the office. The law also stated that employers must provide proper space other than bathroom to allow female employees to express their milk. The law also involves working women who continue to breast feed for up to one year after the birth of their children. It is established as the solution for breastfeeding discrimination at work.
Even so, there are some complaints related to the law. According to some reports, the law does not give exact definition on what adequate time is. It also does not give definition on how many times each week mothers are able to take break to express the milk. The law does not give exact explanation on how the employers should provide place and time for mothers to breastfeed their children at work. However, some laws in some states cover this situation. Some states which forbid breastfeeding discrimination at work are including California and Illinois. In California, employers have the responsibility to provide adequate facilities for women employees to breastfeed and express milk.
Some examples of breastfeeding discrimination at work are including employer does not give proper space or suitable facilities for breastfeeding or expressing milk, women employees are not allowed to organize working break to express the milk, employer insists employees to work night shift when other shifts available to continue breastfeeding, and you have to wean your baby before you can back to work. The law stated that breastfeeding discrimination at work is forbidden and you have the right as mother.
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Article publié pour la première fois le 27/06/2015