Philadelphia Employers Must Now Accommodate Nursing Mothers
Author: Beth P. Zoller, XpertHR Legal Editor
September 10, 2014
Philadelphia employers must now provide reasonable accommodations to nursing mothers under a new ordinance. Employers should review and update their workplace policies, practices and procedures to provide reasonable accommodations and breastfeeding breaks to nursing mothers and make sure that all employees and supervisors are trained in the requirements of the new law.
The ordinance amends the Philadelphia Fair Employment Practices Act and applies to any person who employs one or more employees, including both public and private employers. It requires that reasonable accommodations be provided in the form of:
- Unpaid break time; or
- Allowing an employee to use paid breaks, mealtime or both, to express milk; and
- Providing a private, sanitary space that is not a bathroom where an employee can express breast milk.
These accommodations must be provided unless they impose an undue hardship on the employer. However, the burden is on the employer to show an undue hardship.
Although the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to provide unpaid breastfeeding breaks, the requirement applies only to nonexempt employees and not to administrators, professionals, executives and other exempt employees. In contrast, the Philadelphia ordinance applies to all employees and makes it a discriminatory practice to fail to provide reasonable accommodations.
Employers that violate the new law may be subject to a fine of $2,000 and compensatory damages under the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance.
City Councilman David Oh, who introduced the measure, stated that it:
addresses the issue of treating people fairly and on the merits. It's a Constitutional right and it's smart. . . Success for women in the workplace is critical for Philadelphia to have a competitive economy. Women who are mothers should be able to be successful, happy, and fulfilled in the workplace.
The ordinance complements another law enacted earlier this year, which requires Philadelphia employers to provide reasonable accommodations based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.