federal health reform and nursing mothers in the workplace
TRANSCRIPT
Background / Summary:
It is no surprise that health professionals and public health officials promote breastfeeding to improve infant health. Numerous studies show that both mothers and children benefit from breast milk. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 77 percent of mothers start breastfeeding immediately after birth. At six months, only 36 percent of mothers were still nursing. At 12 months, the number dips to 17 percent. While most moms are educated on the benefits of breastfeeding, many of them find it difficult to nurse longer than six months, let alone up to the one-year milestone.
A large part of the difficulties that new and reoccurring moms are facing are due to their work schedule. Lack of support in the workplace can sabotage a woman’s plans to continue breastfeeding when maternity leave ends. Many lack a clean, private place to pump in addition to having a boss or coworkers who don’t understand the need. Remember that percentage of mothers still breastfeeding their children at six months? In comparison, only 10 percent of mothers who work full-time are still breastfeeding their baby at six months.
Enter the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was signed on March 30, 2010. Among many provisions, Section 4207 of the law amends the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 (29 U.S. Code 207) to require an employer to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express milk for her nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express milk. The employer must also provide a place for the employee to express breast milk. Under the act, a bathroom, even if private, is not an acceptable location under the act. The location provided must be functional as a space and dedicated to the nursing mother’s use. It must also be available when needed in order to meet the statutory requirement. A space temporarily created or converted into a space for expressing milk or made available when needed by the nursing mother is sufficient provided that the space is shielded from view, and free from any intrusion from co-workers and the public. You can find your local state’s breast feeding laws at the National Conference of State Legislatures website (www.ncsl.org).
In the last decade there has been a staggering 800 percent increase in breastfeeding-related discrimination lawsuits according to a new report from the Center for Worklife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Recent rulings may further increase the number of breastfeeding-related cases that go to court. In the 2014 ruling Allen-Brown v. District of Columbia, the federal court determined that breastfeeding is a medical condition related to pregnancy, which means employers are therefore required to accommodate it under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
Versare Solutions, LLC
3236 California St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
888.912.1543 Fax: 800.310.4874 www.versare.com
Versare Solutions, LLC
3236 California St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
888.912.1543 Fax: 800.310.4874 www.versare.com
Solution:
Although many workplaces now provide designated lactation areas and staggered breaks for breastfeeding mothers, they’re often doing so voluntarily as a good business practice to help retain female employees and not as a matter of law. For the first time, women constitute more than half of the workforce and the fastest growing segment is women with children under the age of three.
So what options are readily available for other workplaces to jump in front of this growing epidemic? The majority of workplaces are finding difficulty in locating a designated space for breastfeeding mothers. Available office space is already hard to come by and there is the growing concern of the cost of this type of investment. These businesses have turned to Versare Portable Products to adequately meet their needs.
Versare builds and ships quality room dividers, portable partitions, and privacy screens – all at affordable prices. The most popular options have been our MP10 Portable Partition and The Privacy Screen Divider.
One of the largest retail pharmacies in the United States partnered with Versare to provide all of their stores a solution to help create more privacy. Since no two stores have the same dimensions and square footage, Versare was able to offer the customer a solution with the most flexible options to create a division of space for each stores unique needs. Versare delivered to the customer their three panel Privacy Screen Divider.
Recently a leading global discount supermarket chain with almost 10,000 stores began implementation on their “New Mother’s Program”. Once again, Versare was called upon to deliver the solution. This time the customer chose one of Versare’s folding Room Dividers, which gives the customer numerous choice options of height and length to accommodate each stores’ individual needs.
Conclusion:
Privacy has always been a major concern for customers, employees, and just about everyone else in between. As our society continues to take a more proactive approach of socially promoting new mothers and their babies well-being, there is a responsibility for businesses to continue to ensure all of their needs are met. This includes, but is not limited to, their safety and privacy. If you are a parent, just ask yourself, would you want these options made available for your children and their mothers? The answer is overwhelmingly “Yes!”.
As businesses continue to improve and update their working environments, include this simple and easy to address situation on your roadmap. At the end of the day, we are only helping and benefiting our own future leaders who will be shaping our country and businesses of tomorrow. If that is not convincing enough, remember it is the law!
Versare Solutions, LLC
3236 California St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
888.912.1543
Fax: 800.310.4874
www.versare.com
References:
http://bit.ly/1lHJI8E
http://ti.me/2cAgBti
http://bit.ly/1RaENKB
http://bit.ly/2cyQuhM
http://bit.ly/2d6OPCq
http://huff.to/1nTDaCH