O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 21-27—HB 5158
Labor and Public Employees Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING BR EASTFEEDING IN THE W ORKPLACE
SUMMARY: This act establishes certain requirements for employer-provided
areas that employees can use to express breast milk.
Existing law requires employers to make reasonable efforts to provide a room
or other location near the employee’s work area, other than a toilet stall, where an
employee can express milk in private during a meal or break period. The act
further requires that, as long as there is no undue hardship, this area must (1) be
free from intrusion and shielded from the public while the employee expresses
milk; (2) include or be near a refrigerator or employee-provided portable cold
storage device in which the employee can store the breast milk; and (3) have
access to an electrical outlet.
By law, an employer’s “reasonable efforts” to provide such an area are those
that would not impose an undue hardship on the employer’s business operation.
An “undue hardship” is any action that requires significant difficulty or expense
when considered in relation to factors such as the business’s size and financial
resources and the nature and structure of its operation.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2021