The Golden State’s Lactation Law Gets a Gold Star
California’s workplace lactation accommodation protections for breastfeeding employees—as well as its overall state breastfeeding laws—make it one of the best state for breastfeeding parents.
Effective January 1, 2020, California’s law (SB-142) requires all employers to provide breastfeeding employees with a private (non-bathroom) lactation space that’s in close proximity to where they work.
California’s workplace lactation accommodation exceeds the level of protections provided by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act by stipulating that all workplace lactation spaces must:
Provide employees with a private space to express milk
Be clean and free of any hazardous materials
Have a space to sit and surface for a breast pump
Provide electrical outlets
Be in “close proximity” to where employees work
Have close access to running water and a refrigerator to store pumped breast milk
In addition, the law requires all employers to develop and implement a lactation accommodation policy—complete with a statement of an employee’s right and the process for lactation accommodations requests—for breastfeeding employees. Any violations of the law will be investigated by the Labor Commissioner, and may result in penalties of $100 for each day that an employee is denied reasonable break time or adequate space to express milk.
California is leading the way on progressive legislation that increases support for working, breastfeeding parents. And, based on Mamava’s three-drop scale, California is now one of a the few states to have earned 3-drop status!
Mamava designs solutions to empower breastfeeding and pumping parents on the go, like our freestanding lactation pods, Mamava’s lactation space locator app, and other helpful resources.
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