Sunday, August 17, 2008

Nursing Mothers Get Workplace Accommodations


Effective August 5, 2008, public and private employers in Colorado who have one or more employees shall provide reasonable unpaid break time or permit an employee to use paid break time, meal time, or both, each day to allow the employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for up to two years after the child’s birth.


An employer shall make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location in close proximity to the work area, other than a toilet stall, where an employee can express breast milk in privacy.


Reasonable efforts means any effort that would not impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business. Undue hardship means any action that requires significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to factors such as the size of the business, the financial resources of the business, or the nature and structure of its operation, including consideration of the special circumstances of public safety. Law: 8-13.5-101, C.R.S.


For more information about pregnancy discrimination laws, see Kim Ryan's website at www.lawyers.com/ryanfirm