Nursing Mothers Room Regulations
The need for nursing or lactation rooms came about because new moms needed a private safe and clean place to express breast milk while at work.
Nursing mothers room regulations. Lactation rooms should not be in or accessed through bathrooms locker rooms or similar facilities but should be distinct rooms. A room for nursing mothers is private space a nursing mother can use to express milk. If more than one breastfeeding employee will need the space mothers can develop a room use schedule or the employer can install privacy curtains or dividers so that the room can be used by more than one person at a time. The federal break time for nursing mothers law requires employers covered by the fair labor standards act flsa to provide basic accommodations for breastfeeding mothers at work.
Additional guidance is provided by the office of personnel management opm and the department of labor dol. If there are no breastfeeding employees the employer does not need to maintain a space. These accommodations include time for women to express milk and a private space that is not a bathroom each time they need to pump. Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk section 7 of the flsa employers are also required to provide a place other than a bathroom that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public.
Code 22 1 13 2006 allows a mother to breastfeed her child in any public or private location. According to the policy lactation rooms will be located in the immediate vicinity of the workplace and will include a table a place to sit electrical outlets and have comfortable temperatures and adequate lighting. Further a room for. This law amended section 7 of the fair labor standards act flsa.
States summary of statutes. Requirements these rooms should provide access to electricity for the use of a breast pump as well as good lighting a comfortable temperature and proper ventilation. A lactation room comparable to a break room should be a comfortable and welcoming place for nursing mothers. 29 25 080 and 01 10 060 1998 prohibit a municipality from enacting an ordinance that prohibits or restricts a woman breastfeeding a child in a public or private location where the woman and child are otherwise authorized to be.
Tips for designing a lactation room.