# Unintentionally awkward company policy **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 27, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-awkward-company-policy/720962 "2015-05-27T16:52:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-awkward-company-policy/720962/21 "2015-05-28T00:14:36Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It takes a long time for many women to pump breast milk. It varies by woman and situation but it takes a whole lot longer to pump than for any normal restroom necessities. I suppose they don’t want lactating women to expect to be paid if they take 20 - 30 minutes to pump in a dedicated room especially if they are hourly employees. > > Fun facts: > > 1. [Even biological men can lactate under certain circumstances.](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-males-can-lactate/) Male and female breasts are fundamentally the same. Men have milk ducts and some mammary tissue. It is the hormones oxytocin and prolactin that primarily control milk production in females but men have some of those too. You can artificially induce milk production in males by administering the right doses of hormone supplements but a few men have demonstrated the capability to lactate naturally because of medical conditions or, more rarely, on purpose when the mother couldn’t produce milk of her own. > > 2. Breast milk doesn’t just get secreted from the tip of the nipple like it does with artificial bottle nimples. It comes out of the entire areola in little drops. I swear I had no idea it worked that way until I was already a proud father. **Shagnasty** - it was a poor attempt at a little humor -I realize that ‘pumping’ in this manner takes a good deal of time for the individuals involved - but thank you for fighting ignorance here for all. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-awkward-company-policy/720962/22 "2015-05-28T13:59:18Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > To clarify, in case anyone doesn’t get the joke: I applaud our (legally mandated) policy on providing time and facilities for nursing mothers to express milk. I bemoan the misplaced comma which makes the policy sound at best, ambiguous and at worst, kind of skeevy. It’s interesting how companies word their policies on this. Some companies set aside a room for expressing milk and then label it with some vague name such as “health privacy room” and then vaguely describe it in the employee handbook like “The health privacy room is available for personal and family needs of a private matter in keeping with our commitment to supporting our employees. The health privacy room includes a discreet entrance and exit and a refrigerator for storing materials. Please contact HR if you are interested.” Everyone “knows” (wink wink) that this is not the place you are supposed to go to when you feel like retching over IT’s latest password change policy. Sometimes I’m tempted to do that, and then claim that nobody _told_ me it was for breastfeeding mothers only, the Employee Handbook says it is for “heath, personal, and family needs”. I feel like I’m going to vomit because IT is now making me change my password every three days, so let me in! ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-awkward-company-policy/720962/23 "2015-05-29T02:10:21Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It takes a long time for many women to pump breast milk. It varies by woman and situation but it takes a whole lot longer to pump than for any normal restroom necessities. I suppose they don’t want lactating women to expect to be paid if they take 20 - 30 minutes to pump in a dedicated room especially if they are hourly employees. > … How many times a day does this have to be done? Is this something that has to be done every hour or so, or can the employee get this done in the morning, over lunch, or after work? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-awkward-company-policy/720962.md?page=1)