Mother's Room/Lactation Support

Purpose and Scope:

Loyola University New Orleans has established a Mother’s Room/Lactation Support policy for the purpose of providing breastfeeding mothers with a private place and reasonable break time to express breast milk for her nursing child for up to 1 year after the child’s birth. This policy is in accordance with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) which amended Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) March 23, 2010 (www.dol.gov/whd/nursingmothers/Sec7rFLSA_btnm.htm). Loyola supports breastfeeding mothers by accommodating the mother who wishes to express breast milk during her workday when separated from her newborn child. The provisions of this Mother’s Room/Lactation Policy meet the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act as it relates to breaks for nursing mothers.

Policy:

For up to one year after the child’s birth, any employee who is breastfeeding her child will be provided reasonable break times to express breast milk for her newborn. While Federal law requires the employer to provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public,” it also states, “a space temporarily created or converted into a space for expressing milk or made available when needed by the nursing mother is sufficient provided that the space is shielded from view.” Although future building plans may include a refrigerator for storing breast milk, the University is not responsible for the security or integrity of breast milk stored in any refrigerator on campus.

Procedure:

Department Heads and supervisors:

1. Department heads are required to allow working women to use normal break times, meal times or unpaid break time for expressing their breast milk.
2. Department heads will work with Human Resources to provide a private area as necessary while additional Mother’s Rooms are constructed.
3. Employees who work on Main Campus have a designated space located on the first floor of the Danna Student Center in addition to the use of a private area within their building as necessary.
4. The Broadway Campus designated Mothers Room is located on the first floor of the Broadway Activities Center (BAC).

Nursing mothers:

1. Employees who wish to express their breast milk during the workday must notify their department supervisor/manager, either before or after returning to work from FMLA or Parental leave for the birth of their child.
2. If the employee is non-exempt (paid hourly), and if the break taken is longer than 20 minutes and not a regular lunch break, then the employee should indicate the break period on their time record.
3. While Nursing mothers should contact Student Involvement to obtain a key for the room in the Danna Center, nursing mothers wishing to use the BAC Mother’s Room do not have to make a request/reservation as it is available 24/7 with a privacy lock. The exception to this is when it is already in use by a nursing mother.
4. Women may lock the Mother’s Room only for the purpose of privacy to express, collect and/or store breast milk. The door should not be locked at any other time.
5. The nursing mother is expected to clean up after each use of the room to help keep the room free of contamination and illness transmission.
6. Nursing mothers should bring their own breast pump and cooler to store breast milk even if the University is able to provide a refrigerator. Additional rules for use of the room are posted in the room.

If a nursing mother has any questions regarding this policy, she may contact the Human Resources, 504-864-7757.