Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge support for my amendment. My amendment to the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act would help ensure women have sufficient notice of the new protections afforded to them in this bill.

By ensuring that eligible people are provided with sufficient informational resources, more women will be able to exercise their rights and the likelihood of employer defection will be reduced.

In many places in this country, including my home State of North Carolina, it is easier to take a smoke break than for a mother to take a pump break. This is simply unacceptable.

By passing the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, we can end this discrimination against breastfeeding workers and guarantee that no mother will have to choose between earning a living and feeding her child.

But a law is only as effective as its enforcement, and we have unfortunately witnessed countless occasions where businesses have failed to inform workers of their rights. Just in this last year, the Department of Labor investigated six businesses in North Carolina for violations of breastfeeding rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

My amendment would provide the necessary information to ensure these workplace violations do not continue. We owe it to our nursing mothers, their families, and our local communities to be vigilant about overseeing the implementation of this law.

This is a gender equality issue, a labor rights issue, and an economic justice issue that demands our attention.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record letters from the director of La Leche and the National WIC Association. Written Statement of Diane Thompson, Director of La Leche League Alliance for Breastfeeding Education Before the United States House of Representatives--September 24, 2021

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McCarthy, Members of the U.S. House of Representatives: La Leche League Alliance for Breastfeeding Education submits this letter to the U.S. House of Representatives in full support of the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act (H.R. 3110).

La Leche League Alliance for Breastfeeding Education (LLL Alliance) is a division of La Leche League International in the United States. While we receive our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as a charitable organization through our association with LLLI, we are a separately incorporated entity.

Representing over 1000 Leaders spread across 43 states, LLL Alliance provides resources and support for La Leche League Leaders and Area Administrators, as well as information and support for parents.

La Leche League believes that breastfeeding, with its many important physical and psychological advantages, is best for baby and mother and is the ideal way to initiate good parent- child relationships.

Breastfeeding is crucial to the health of both mothers and babies. It provides protections and health benefits for far longer than the duration of the breastfeeding relationship. Why would the USA not want to encourage and support the feeding of human milk? Some of the advantages include for mothers: lower risk of breast cancer, lower risk of ovarian cancer, lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and less endometriosis. For children: fewer instances of allergies, eczema, and asthma, fewer childhood cancers, including leukemia and lymphomas, lower risk of type I and II diabetes, fewer instances of Crohn's disease and colitis. See the CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization.

We have Leaders and parents that are supported who are denied the opportunity to pump at work because of the types of jobs they have. Especially affected are teachers in the K- 12 system and nurses who are not currently covered. This can have several effects. Mastitis caused by not pumping--these leads to lost days at work and possibly the cessation of breastfeeding. It is disappointing that those individuals who do so much caretaking can be deprived of caretaking for their own children.

Why would the PUMP act be helpful? Among other reasons it would close the coverage gap. The bill would protect nearly 9 million employees excluded from the 2010 Break Time law by extending the law's protections to cover salaried employees as well as other categories of employees currently exempted from protections.

It would provide employers clarity on when pumping time must be paid and when it may be unpaid. The bill leaves in place existing law protecting many salaried workers from having their pay docked and clarifies that any time spent pumping while the employee is also working, a common occurrence for many employees, must be counted as hours worked.

This is not a partisan issue--parents of any party benefit.

La Leche League Alliance for Breastfeeding Education urges all members of Congress to vote in support because as stated above it closes gaps in the current law. Individuals should not have to choose between going to the bathroom or pumping.

Thank you for your consideration. Diane Thompson,

Director, La Leche League Alliance for Breastfeeding Education. ____ September 27, 2021. Re National WIC Association Support for the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act (H.R. 3110).

On behalf of the National WIC Association (NWA), the 12,000 service provider agencies we represent, and the approximately 6.3 million women, infants, and young children our members serve, we write to express our strong support for the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act (H.R. 3110). This legislation is a critical step towards ensuring healthy child development and postpartum health outcomes for working mothers served by WIC.

Because millions of nursing moms are in the workforce and need protections to pump breastmilk, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act is imperative for protecting the nation's breastfeeding women, including WIC participants. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, based on longstanding recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, promotes exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and encourages ongoing breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced. More than half of mothers return to the paid labor force before their children are three months old, with as many as one in four returning within just two weeks of giving birth. Many of these mothers choose to continue breastfeeding well after their return to work to meet the standards reiterated in the Dietary Guidelines--and those employees need to express (or pump) breast milk on a regular schedule.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is the nation's leading breastfeeding promotion program, serving about 500,000 breastfeeding women with a combination of professional and peer support. Over the last two decades, WIC providers have worked to increase the rates of breastfeeding initiation amongst women participating in the program by 30%. As WIC works to address societal, intergenerational, and historic barriers to breastfeeding, employment protections are vital for the 15.2 million women who live in households that earn less than 185% of the federal poverty line.

According to the Surgeon General, breastfeeding protects babies from illnesses like ear, skin, and respiratory infections, diarrhea, and vomiting, as well as longer-term conditions such as obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes, and asthma. Mothers who breastfeed for the recommended duration benefit, from lower risks of breast cancer, heart disease, and other ailments. Higher breastfeeding rates in the United States are associated with lower healthcare costs, with the American Academy of Pediatrics projecting $13 billion in health care savings if 90% of families in the United States exclusively breastfed for six months.

Research indicates that significant breastfeeding disparities are sustained by both income and race/ethnicity. Lower-income women experience lower breastfeeding rates than middle-higher income women. Furthermore, Black women experience significantly lower breastfeeding rates than White women and Latinas. Barriers to breastfeeding for these vulnerable groups include family and social pressures, a rapid return to work after delivery, lack of facilities to breastfeed or pump in the workplace and in public, and targeted marketing by the infant formula industry. In order to further improve these rates, specifically amongst low- income women and women of color, workplace barriers to breastfeeding must be addressed.

Passed in 2010, the Break Time for Nursing Mothers provision included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, provided critical protections to ensure that employees would have reasonable break time and a private place to pump. Since the law was tied to language in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), millions of nursing mothers were left without an express statutory right to pump at work. Without these protections, nursing mothers face serious health consequences, including risk of painful illness and infection, diminished milk supply, or inability to continue breastfeeding. Employment is compatible with breastfeeding, and solutions to support nursing mothers exist in all industries. In fact, studies show that supporting nursing mothers leads to lower employer health care costs, absenteeism, and turnover, as well as improved morale, job satisfaction, and productivity. Without protection, nursing employees are likelier to face harassment, reduced wages, and job loss.

The fact remains that nursing mothers are suffering negative health consequences and being forced to choose between breastfeeding and earning a paycheck. The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act would strengthen the 2010 Break Time law by: Closing the coverage gap

The bill would protect nearly 9 million employees excluded from the 2010 Break Time law by extending the law's protections to cover salaried employees as well as other categories of employees currently exempted from protections. Unfortunately, the 2010 Break Time law's placement within the part of FLSA that sets overtime meant that nearly 9 million women--nearly one in four women of childbearing age--were excluded from coverage and have no clear right to break time and space to pump breast milk under federal law. Those left unprotected include teachers, software engineers, and many types of nurses, among numerous others. The categories of employees excluded under FLSA predate the 2010 Break Time law, and were created specifically with overtime exemptions in mind. There is no principled reason why these working mothers should be ineligible to receive break time and space to pump breast milk under federal law. The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act fixes this harmful error. Providing employers clarity on when pumping time must be paid and when it may be unpaid

The bill leaves in place existing law protecting many salaried workers from having their pay docked, and clarifies that any time spent pumping while the employee is also working, a common occurrence for many employees, must be counted as hours worked. Under the existing Break Time law, breaks do not need to be paid unless they are concurrent with paid breaks. The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act clarifies that although the breaks taken under the law are typically unpaid, if hourly workers are not actually relieved from duty while pumping, then that time should be counted as hours worked. The bill also specifies that it does not change existing protections preventing employers from deducting compensation from the salaries of employees who are exempt from receiving overtime. Providing remedies for nursing mothers

The bill would ensure that nursing mothers have access to remedies that are available for other violations of the FLSA, bringing this law into alignment with other requirements that are familiar to employers. Another unintended consequence of the 2010 Break Time law's placement in the FLSA is that an employee who is denied break time and space has no effective remedy for the violation. An employer that violates the 2010 Break Time law can be ordered to pay the employee ``the amount of their unpaid minimum wages,'' but violations of the Break Time law typically do not involve unpaid wages. This leaves those who are denied the ability to pump without any meaningful way to enforce their rights, or to address the negative health consequences (such as physical or emotional suffering from infections or early termination of breastfeeding) or financial harms (like unpaid leave or job loss) that they may suffer. In light of the many exemptions and the absence of an effective way to enforce the law's requirements, it is no surprise that sixty percent of breastfeeding employees still did not have access to break time and space after the 2010 Break Time law was in effect. The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act fills the gaps in the 2010 Break Time law so all breastfeeding employees receive the full protections of the law.

The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act represents the next critical step toward bringing federal legislation into alignment with the nutrition and practical needs of our nation's families and their employers. On behalf of WIC's national network of lactation support professionals and the mothers that we serve, we urge your support for this vital legislation. Sincerely, The National WIC Association.
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Ms. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney).

Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise strongly in support of the amendment offered by Representative Deborah Ross from North Carolina, and I thank her for her leadership in North Carolina and here in Congress for working mothers, for infants, for families. We need more work-family balance. We need more support for working mothers.

We now know with COVID that many families are not going back to work; they are reassessing their values. When you have a child and you want to breastfeed, and there is no accommodation, there really is no way you can go back to work, so this is pro-business, pro-worker, and pro- family.

Her amendment directs the U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO, to conduct a study on how employers are complying with the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act. Even the best legislation must be monitored.

I am excited about the opportunity to ensure that employers are protecting the rights of nursing mothers. It is pro-family when you protect our mothers and our children.

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Ms. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of my amendment and the bill. Both are essential for our working mothers, for our families, and for the health of the next generation.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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