The room must protect a breastfeeding employee from being seen by co workers or the general public while they are pumping breast milk.
Lactation room requirements virginia.
Lactation rooms should not be in or accessed through bathrooms locker rooms or similar facilities but should be distinct rooms designed for their intended purpose.
While virginia s new breastfeeding law is a step in the right direction virginians should demand more protection for nursing mothers.
If more than one breastfeeding employee will need the space mothers can develop a room use schedule or the employer can install privacy curtains or dividers so that the room can be used by more than one person at a time.
Code 22 1 79 5 2014.
The dividers must ensure that each.
House bill 827 senate bill 712 and va.
If there are no breastfeeding employees the employer does not need to maintain a space.
A lactation room cannot be a bathroom while it affords privacy toilet areas are not sanitary.
Enacted in 2015 va.
Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk section 7 of the flsa employers are also required to provide a place other than a bathroom that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public.
Code 32 1 370 states in relevant part a mother may breastfeed in any place where the mother is lawfully present.
6 1 17 if you have a question or concern please email vabreastfeeds vdh virginia gov mothers have a legal right to breastfeed in public right to breastfeed legal language.
Lactation rooms may be located near lobbies or main corridors in proximity to breakrooms bathrooms and other core building functions.
Currently virginia does not require all employers to either provide reasonable accommodations to nursing mothers during work hours or prove it would be an undue hardship for them to do so.
Virginia law also protects breastfeeding teachers and students by directing all school boards to provide breaks of reasonable length and a private space other than a bathroom to pump at school for up to one year.