California requires all employers to provide lactating employees with reasonable time and adequate space to express breast milk in private at or near the employee’s usual work area.  The location, which cannot be a bathroom, must have access to electricity or alternative devices to operate an electric or battery-powered breast pump and be safe, clean, and hazard-free, with a place to sit and a surface to place a breast pump and personal items. The company must also provide access to a sink with running water and a refrigerator or another cooling device for storing milk.

California Labor Code section 1034 also requires all employers to develop and implement a lactation accommodation policy including:

• The right to request lactation accommodation;
• The process for initiating and responding to the request; and
• The right to file a Labor Commissioner complaint for any perceived noncompliance.

Policy Drafting Tips and Best Practices:

• Include the above points in the policy;
• Describe how the employer’s lactation room or location complies with the law;
• Consider attaching a copy of the Labor Code sections 1030-1034 to the policy; and
• Distribute the policy to all new hires and to any employee who makes an inquiry about or requests parental leave.

Take-Aways:

Implement and regularly review your handbook to include a lactation accommodation policy, and educate and train your supervisors on these laws.

We publish this series to educate employers on best practices for a well-written handbook that assists applicants, employees, and management alike. To purchase our 2023 template handbook – which contains the above policy and much more – and accompanying forms or for more information, please contact Office Manager Aimee Rosales at 626.583.6600 or officemgr@tbowleslaw.com.

See also:

• Mom Discrimination – Black Employee Charges Walmart’s Unequal Treatment (March 3, 2022)
• What’s New in 2020 Freedom of Expression – Higher Workplace Standards to Assist Lactating Moms (January 17, 2020)
• EEOC Settles Female Miner Discrimination Case for $690,000 (June 27, 2019)

Cindy Bamforth
August 10, 2023