The Women's Advocate Office Of Puerto Rico Publishes Guidelines On Lactation Room Standards

• Published date: 23 February 2021
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Health & Safety
• Law Firm: Littler Mendelson
• Author: Ms Elizabeth Pérez-Lleras and José L. Maymí-Gonz'lez

On February 11, 2021, the Women's Advocate Office (WAO) published Guidelines on the Acclimatization of Lactation Rooms (Guidelines), which apply to both public- and private-sector employers. The Guidelines, which are effective immediately, set forth 10 criteria that employer-provided lactation rooms must meet to be compliant with Puerto Rico laws governing a working mother's right to breastfeed and the child's right to be fed.

Three important statutes discussed in the Guidelines establish the right to breastfeed in Puerto Rico. The first, Act 427-2000, as amended, known as "Act to Regulate Breastfeeding and Breast Milk Extraction Periods," ensures that nursing mothers who work full-time (more than 7.5 hours per day) can have one hour to express breastmilk during their shift. The employee can, in turn, use that one hour by dividing it into two 30-minute periods or three periods of 20 minutes. The statute likewise established that nursing mothers working part-time can have a 30-minute period after four consecutive hours of work to express breastmilk. The second, Act 155-2002, known as "Act to Establish Lactation Spaces within the Public Entities of the Government of Puerto Rico," imposes an obligation on public government entities to ensure and facilitate a designated space to express breastmilk. The third, Act 220-2004, known as "Act to Establish the Pregnant Student's Bill of Rights," established similar lactation areas within the schools of the Puerto Rico Department of Education where teenage mothers can choose to express breastmilk without jeopardizing their education.

In general terms, employers running afoul the above-mentioned statutes face administrative fines and could be forced to compensate lactating working mothers for their damages. In turn, the Guidelines strive to ensure the employer's compliance with Puerto Rico's aforementioned lactation laws.

The Guidelines recognize that a lactating working mother has a right to choose how to feed her child and that, if the lactation process is interrupted, her child's right to be fed could be impacted since lactation could be reduced or even cease. As such, the Guidelines acknowledge that a designated space for expressing breastmilk or breastfeeding must be ideal and that the mother's peace of mind is an important factor to this process; thus, she must be at ease during this period. Therefore, pursuant to the Guidelines, lactation rooms provided by employers must be secure, private, and clean...