Breastfeeding and the Law

President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on March 30, 2010. (See the combined full text of Public Laws 111-148 and 111-152 here.)  Among many provisions, Section 4207 of the law amends the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 (29 U.S. Code 207) to require an employer 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 milk. The employer is not required to compensate an employee receiving reasonable break time for any work time spent for such purpose. The employer must also provide a place, other than a bathroom, for the employee to express breast milk.  If these requirements impose undue hardship, an employer that employs fewer than 50 employees is not subject to these requirements. The federal requirements shall not preempt a state law that provides greater protections to employees.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division is responsible for enforcing this law.  For information about filing a complaint, see http://www.dol.gov/whd/nursingmothers

​Breastfeeding Support and Supply Coverage under Health Care Law

The National Women's Law center created a toolkit  providing information on the coverage of breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling in the health care law and offer tools to use women encounter problems with this coverage. The tool kit is for women, advocates, community-based organizations and health care providers and provides detailed instructions on how to call insurance companies and how to file an appeal if the plan denies coverage. Click here to access the tool kit!