Teachers who are breastfeeding are expected to soon have the guarantee of a private place and reasonable break times to pump breast milk under legislation poised to be signed by President Joe Biden.
The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act, which passed the Senate 92-5 this month as an amendment to the government funding bill, expands breastfeeding accommodations in the workplace to all salaried employees—a change from the previous federal law, which only applied to hourly workers. Teachers have long said that finding the time and privacy to pump breast milk for their babies at school is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.
“One of the biggest groups of workers who were left out of the [previous] federal lactation protections were teachers, and hearing from teachers about their really horrific experiences managing breastfeeding and work is a large part of what pushed people to demand the PUMP Act,” said Jessica Lee, a senior staff attorney at the Center for WorkLife Law, an advocacy and research organization based at the law school of the University of California Hastings. “This is a big win for educators.”
Teachers have shared stories of pumping breast milk in supply closets, bathrooms, or in classrooms with no guarantee of privacy. Many have also said they’ve had to go more than a few hours without a chance to pump, which can cause their milk supply to dwindle or lead to painful plugged ducts and breast infections.
The PUMP Act requires...
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