Can I Sue My Employer For Not Letting Me Breastfeed

It is recommended by the American Academy for Pediatrics that mothers breastfeed exclusively for 6 months and continue to breastfeed for another 6 months after the introduction of solid foods. In fact, it is well documented that breastfeeding provides newborns with essential proteins and nutrients, is linked to higher IQ later in life, and leads to other benefits as well.

But allowing mothers to breastfeed or pump milk at work has benefits for the employer also. Giving employee mothers the opportunity and privacy to express milk decreases workplace absences and also encourages productivity because mothers are less stressed about family-related issues.

However, more and more employers are discriminating against the most vulnerable class of people, mothers who need to breastfeed or express milk for a newborn child.

Expressing milk for a newborn is an important aspect of nursing a newborn. When you are at work you should be given:

• The opportunity to express your milk in sanitary conditions
• Adequate breaks to express milk, with ample time
• The privacy to express your milk without interruption

There are numerous legal protections for mothers expressing milk to do so without the anxiety of a looming boss.

For example, there is the Reasonable Break Time for Nursing Mothers Act, which was an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) under the U.S. Department of Labor. Under this act, “employers are required to 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 such employee has need to express milk.” Employers must also provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.”