In Minnesota there is such a law - has been for years. Falls under employment law. And employer must make “reasonable accomodation” and break time for pumping. But a bathroom stall will count in a pinch, I believe. I’m fairly sure it must be a private place. When I pumped, I either used a conference room with a lock on the door (and paper over the window) or my bosses office (he was kind enough to just move). My current employer has “mother’s rooms” which are rooms set up (little more than closets) with a comfy chair and an outlet and enough light for reading.
On a related note, the other day I’d finished my business and was at the sink washing my hands. Two co-workers came in and just sort of stood there. Then, all of a sudden, one of them turned around and pulled up her top and the other one started rubbing some sort of lotion onto her back. I practically ran out of there. Still no idea what that was all about.
Are they fairly close friends - could have been a calse of “oh God my back itches - I hate winter, its so dry” and a friend saying “hey, I have some lotion, you want me to put some on your back?” They could have stood around hoping you were about to leave, and you didn’t leave quite fast enough. Could have even been a perscription for something - hard to get to your back by yourself.
Or maybe they were lotioning up for action in the ladies room at work - I’m going for dry skin.
For the record, freshly squeezed breast milk can be left unrefrigerated for a few hours without going bad, so it probably wouldn’t hurt anything if she just left it at her desk until it was time to leave for the day. However, I imagine most moms would want to err on the side of caution and keep it refrigerated.
My wife used to just go out to her car to pump. Then, since it was during the winter months she just left it in the car and we transferred it to the fridge or feezer when we got home.
OTOH I swore you could get more milk out of her then a cow, sometimes if we where feeling lazy it just got dumped.
In Japan there is a lot of wierd stuff. I’m just saying…
anyhoo my wife and I met and got married in Japan. Somehow it turned into a joke about breast milk cappucino. then when my first daugher was born, one day my wife gave me some left over frozen breast milk. It didn’t quite turn out like my jokes did. It tasted pretty funny and squicked me out so I ended up only finishing about half of that cappucino…
Most of the articles I was looking at were dated 1999. I wasn’t finding a lot more recent. Its possible other states have enacted similar laws since those articles were written. But Nurse Carmen is here in Minnesota with me, so for him, his query “I thought a room needed to be provided” makes a lot of sense - cause here, it does.
The medical lab tech in me is not happy with this - are there not health regulations preventing people from storing bodily fluids in the community lunchroom fridge?
Jeez - it’s milk not pee. Infants drink it straight from the source, it’s not going to hurt anything by being in the fridge next to somebody’s sandwich.
Pee is cleaner than breast milk, in a healthy person. There’s no bacteria in urine, there’s quite a bit in breast milk (though most of it is harmless, you can pass some disease through milk). If I was the type to panic about such things, I’d be more worried about breast milk than urine next to my sandwich. OTOH, as long as it’s in a clearly labeled and securely sealed container, I see no harm in it.
However, most dual-electric pumps meant for working mothers come with their own insulated carrying cases with spots for ice packs, so you can keep all your milk cold in your locker or under your desk.
I have no idea what the law is in Florida (since it’ll never apply to me). But as long as the mother is okay with it, what the heck difference does it make? If she weren’t okay with it, I’m sure she would have gone to HR and some sort of arrangement would have been made. She probably has a lot more privacy in the ladies’ than she would have anywhere else in this building and it’s not like she has to sit on the toilet to do it.
I’m not getting the squick factor about having mother’s milk in the fridge, or even accidentally knocking the stuff back. It’s gotta be better for you than cow’s milk, and easier to get than chimp milk.
If she’s not OK with it, and there isn’t a law, she doesn’t have any recourse with HR at all. They may or may not make any arrangement. I wouldn’t have been comfortable pumping in a bathroom stall - and cleanliness would have only been one issue. The place I was working didn’t have large ladies room - single stall - I would have been using the entire ladies room for twenty minutes three times a day - making it inconvinent for the other women in the office. The outlet was not convienent to the stall - hauling extension cords in and out of the bathroom doesn’t seem like a great idea from an OSHA perspective. Plus, the only place to sit is on the toilet - not the most comfortable spot - and pumping was not my forte - I needed a chair with a back and a seat that didn’t contain a large hole.
There are lots of ways to give a woman more privacy without making her use a bathroom stall - a closet can be adapted, an unused office. Minnesota law seems to require a lock on the door.
The reason there is a law in Minnesota is that not all companies were ok with making arrangements - had there been no issues, there would have never been a law. In some states they don’t need to provide time to pump at all.
