Understanding Breastfeeding at Work Rights for Mothers

Breastfeeding is a practice that provides benefits to new born infants and mothers alike. Working mothers who breastfeed might also need additional support from their employers, including having a place to be able to breastfeed in private.

Women who breastfeed their infants also offer benefits to their employers because they are more likely to return from maternity leave sooner to get back to work, and they require fewer days off for baby-related illnesses.

Aspects of the Fair Labor Standards Act were amended by the Affordable Care Act such that new mothers who wish to breastfeed at work could be entitled to legal protections. If you believe that you have been subjected to discrimination as a result of breastfeeding at work, you should speak to a Philadelphia breastfeeding wdiscrimination lawyer, to fully understand your rights.

Employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act have to provide mothers with reasonable break times to express their breast milk for a nursing child for up to one year after the child's birth each time that an employee needs the opportunity to express this milk.

Covered employers must also provide a room outside of a bathroom that is private, free from intrusion, and shielded from view of the public and co-workers for the employee to express milk. The Fair Labor Standards Act now requires that employers must meet these basic guidelines for any mother who is breastfeeding a child under one year of age with these protections.

Understanding Retaliation for Breastfeeding Issues

The Fair Labor Standards Act, and amendments to it, also prohibit employers from taking retaliatory action against those workers who file complaints, due to allegations of rights violation under the FLSA. An employer who fires, demotes, reduces the hours of, or takes any other negative action, because a mother was attempting to breastfeed, has officially violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. This means that the individual employee could be entitled to legal protection. Furthermore, there are protections under Pennsylvania state law for breastfeeding mothers.

If an employer has refused to allow you to express milk while at work, or has not given you the appropriate private location in which to do so, your legal rights could have been violated.

Whether or not you have grounds for a Philadelphia breastfeeding work discrimination case depends on the employer's policies, the number of workers employed at the company, and whether the company made any accommodations to permit you to breastfeed in an appropriate setting. It can be overwhelming to figure out all of these details on your own, but you don’t have to handle this by yourself. A Philadelphia breastfeeding work discrimination lawyer can assist you.

Keep a journal about the circumstances under which your ability to express milk were limited, including the times and issues that you experienced. Presenting a chronology of these concerns to your lawyer is often the first step in showing that there is a clear pattern of breastfeeding work discrimination.

When to Find an Attorney for Breastfeeding Work Discrimination

As soon as possible after the incidents in question happened, you need to consider whether or not a Philadelphia breastfeeding work discrimination attorney could help you. It can be frustrating to try and make things work at your place of employment when your rights are consistently violated. Far too many mothers find themselves in the difficult position of not knowing how to respond when they need to express milk, and are not permitted to do so in an appropriate place, or with proper breaks.

While this can be a challenging situation to navigate on your own, a supportive and experienced Philadelphia breastfeeding work discrimination lawyer will know how to help you figure out when an employer has crossed the line, and give you the support you need.

You need an experienced attorney to help you evaluate your claim and decide whether or not retaliation or discrimination did occur. If a company has refused to make the legal accommodations to support a breastfeeding mother, she could have grounds to sue that company and hold them accountable for their failure to act.