Library Highlights: Breastfeeding in public and the workplace

August is National Breastfeeding Month and August 1-7, 2016 is World Breastfeeding Week. In recognition we have compiled this resource guide on Wisconsin and Federal laws regarding breastfeeding in public and in the workplace.

Compiled by Jaime Healy-Plotkin

Cover of Your guide to breastfeeding

Wisconsin law

Wisconsin Statute s.253.165 "Right to breastfeed"
Wis. Stat. § 944.17(3), § 944.20(2) and § 948.10(2)(b) provide that breastfeeding mothers are not in violation of criminal statutes of indecent or obscene exposure.
Recently proposed legislation: 2015 Assembly Bill 882
Relating to: requiring an employer to provide reasonable break time for an employee who is breast-feeding her child to express breast milk for the child.

Federal law

Fair Labor Standards Act, Section 7 "Break time for nursing mothers provision"
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Affordable Care Act") amended section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") to require 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. 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, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk. The break time requirement became effective when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010.
Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA (US Dept. of Labor)
Fact sheet and frequently asked questions.

Articles

Breastfeeding in the American workplace by Shana M. Christrup. American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law 9.3 (2001): 471-504.
Breastfeeding on a nickel and a dime: why the Affordable Care Act's nursing mothers amendment won't help low-wage workers by Nancy Ehrenreich, Jamie Siebrase. Michigan Journal of Race & Law 20.1 (2014-2015): 65-116.
Eradicating the mothering effect: women as workers and mothers, successfully and simultaneously by Rona Kaufman Kitchen. Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society 26.2 (2011): 167-212.
Lactation provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, by Robert B. Fitzpatrick. ABA Health eSource. September 2010 Volume 10 Number 1.
Nursing mothers must be accommodated, Kenneth Chang. Wisconsin Law Journal. January 19, 2011.
Step toward true equality in the workplace: requiring employer accommodation for breastfeeding women by Lara M. Gardner. Wisconsin Women's Law Journal 17.2 (2002): 259-290.
When private goes public: legal protection for women who breastfeed in public and at work by Danielle M. Shelton. Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice 14.1 (1995-1996): 179-202.
Working woman's right to breastfeed by Tenechia D. Lockhart. Freedom Center Journal 2014.2 (2014): 157-176.

Books in our library

Wisconsin employment law by Peter L. Albrecht and others, (6th ed. 2016)
References nursing breaks in § 2.106 and § 5.27.
Wisconsin wages and hours handbook by James J. Chiolino, (4th ed. 2016)
References nursing breaks in § 3.9.

Case law

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Houston Funding II, Ltd. 717 F.3d 425
"Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought action against employer on behalf of female former employee, alleging employer unlawfully discharged employee because she was lactating and wanted to express milk at work."
Martinez v. NBC, Inc, 49 F. Supp. 2d 305
"The core claim in this case is that plaintiff's employer, MSNBC Cable LLC ("MSNBC") was insufficiently accommodating of plaintiff's desire to pump breast milk in the workplace so that she could breast feed her child while also returning to work promptly after childbirth.”