Breastfeeding is Legal in Public and Private

Breastfeeding a baby in public and private is legal and fully protected under California law. Do enough people know this?

The law also requires “a reasonable amount of break time to accommodate an employee desiring to express breast milk” and “the use of a room or other location, other than a toilet stall, in close proximity to the employee's work area, for the employee to express milk in private.” More details here.

If this is misunderstood, it’s because the people complaining in restaurants or in private companies think they are on private space, but the law applies there equally. That is not the case in many other states where vagueness opens the door for opponents to make life difficult for breastfeeding mothers. Compare the summary of statutes half way down this page (look at Arizona or Michigan or Ohio for example).

California ideas now are going nationwide… One of the little known changes in the recent health care law is that it mandates that large employers (50+ employees) all over the country must provide a “reasonable break time” (limits are not defined) and a room suitable for their employees to express breast milk in private (bathrooms are excluded). This seems to be effective immediately and it applies for one year after the child’s birth. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are supposed to honor it too but they can opt out if it imposes “undue hardship.” In California this won’t change much in a legal sense since this is already the law, but it may empower more women to actively use this opportunity while at work. A federal law creates a new reality of tolerance and acceptance.

And backlash? Some employers are grumbling of course and – ironically – some of the fiercest critics of these laws are women. There are some who are grossed out by the sight of women breastfeeding, or by the whirr of humming breast pumps through flimsy doors, or by the idea of expressed milk in a bottle… Well, get over it.