Breastfeeding
The Health Act 2017 has the necessary provisions on breastfeeding.
Employers are required to grant all nursing employees break intervals for nursing in addition to the regular times off for meals. to breastfeed or express milk. The nursing break includes the time it takes an employee to get to and from the lactation station and is counted as paid working hours provided that such interval is not more than a total of one hour for every eight-hour working period.
Employers are further required to establish Lactation stations in the workplace which shall be adequately provided with necessary equipment and facilities including hand washing equipment, refrigerators or appropriate cooling facilities, electrical outlets for breast pumps, a small table, and comfortable seats. The lactation station must not be located in the rest rooms. Employers are further required to take strict action to prevent any direct or indirect form of promotion, marketing and or selling of infant formula and or breast substitutes within the lactation stations.
The Breast-Feeding Mother Bill 2024 allows a woman worker to breastfeed a baby (until the child is 2 years old) at work or express milk at a lactation place at work (to be used later on). The draft Bill clearly specifies a lactation place as “private, clean, sanitary and well-ventilated rooms or areas in the workplace or public places where breastfeeding mothers can breastfeed or express milk comfortably”.
The draft Bill requires employers to provide breastfeeding breaks with a reasonable time duration. The break time shall be prescribed by the cabinet secretary, and if necessary, it can exceed beyond the time set by the regulation. Employers are required to provide flexible work arrangements for breastfeeding mothers. A breastfeeding worker cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or any other maternity-related condition in employment-related matters.
Source: §71 of the Health Act, 2017
