After reading about the very real problem of pregnancy discrimination, you may inevitably question how far workplace protections go in this regard. Many of those who come to see us here at the Employment Law Offices of John H. Haskin & Associates, LLC believe that their employers in Indiana only need to accommodate their pregnancies up until they deliver their babies. Yet that is not the case.
Indeed, in many aspects, the physical demands on you may become even harder following the birth of your baby. A major part of caring for your child includes providing them with the breast milk your body produces. Keeping an adequate amount of such nourishment on hand may require that you express it manually.
Rights reserved for nursing mothers
Such a task is deeply intimate and personal, yet is something that you still may have to do even after you return to work. You (of course) would not want to do this in front of your coworkers or visitors to your office, yet you may feel that the demands of your work schedule might make it difficult to take a break to pump.
Fortunately, the law accounts for this needs. Per the U.S. Department of Labor, your employer must provide you with the time needed to express breast milk while at work. While it does not have to pay you for this time, your company must find you a private location in which to do this (other than a restroom). This right extends up until one year from the birth of your baby.
Exceptions to post-pregnancy workplace protections
Your employer does not need to offer you this accommodation, however, if it employs less than 50 people and it can show that doing so imposes an undue financial hardship. You can find more information on this and other pregnancy-related workplace protections throughout our site.
