I hope by now you've all heard that the health care reform legislation of last year created a requirement that most employers make reasonable efforts to provide unpaid break time and a place to pump for their nursing employees. And you probably know that laws in 24 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico also provide similar accomodations.
The federal requirement was a huge step forward, particularly for mothers who live in states without their own employer law, provision extends that right only to "non exempt" (non-salaried) employees (for more detail on who is covered, see this page). While some larger employers who employ salaried and non-salaried workers would probably extend this right to all of their nursing employees - both salaried and hourly - those who employ only salaried employees, and others who are reluctant to extend the right to everyone, are the target of new legislation, the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2011.
According to the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee, the Act:
- Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace.
- Protects breastfeeding mothers by ensuring that executive, administrative, and professional employees, including elementary and secondary school teachers (in addition to non-exempt employees covered by the previous amendment), have break time and a private place to pump in the workplace.
The bill has been introduced in each house of Congress and is authored by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY).
You can ask your senator to co-sponsor this legislation using this form created by Moms Rising.
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