Workplace Support Constellation
Steward: U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (Cheryl Lebedevitch)
Constellation Priority Strategies:
- Increase understanding of employer responsibilities and employee rights under federal and state law through an education campaign emphasizing existing implementation resources
- Identify gaps in the current laws and work to expand protections for all employees
Constellation Participants:
- 1,000 Days
- A Better Balance
- Alaska Breastfeeding Coalition
- American Academy of Family Physicians
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- American Public Health Association
- Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
- Association of State Public Health Nutritionists
- Center for WorkLife Law
- Every Mother, Inc.
- Healthy Children Project
- International Childbirth Education Association
- Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition
- Minnesota Breastfeeding Coalition
- MomsRising
- Mom2Mom Global
- Montana State Breastfeeding Coalition
- National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color
- National Partnership for Women & Families
- National WIC Association
- New Hampshire Breastfeeding Task Force
- New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force
- Ohio Breastfeeding Alliance
- Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere
- United States Lactation Consultant Association
- American Civil Liberties Union
- DHHS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- DHHS, Office on Women's Health
Breastfeeding Works Webinar Series |
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Breastfeeding Works: How to Support Nursing Employees and Students The inaugural webinar in the Breastfeeding Works series will give lactation support providers and other breastfeeding advocates the information and tools they need to counsel breastfeeding workers and students. The expert panelists will cover the national and state laws that protect breastfeeding parents from discrimination, and the laws that require lactation accommodations at work and school. |
Breastfeeding Works: Legal Protections for Lactating Employees and Students in the Health Care Industry The expert panelists will cover the national and state laws that protect breastfeeding parents from discrimination and the laws that require lactation accommodations at work and school. The panelists will offer workers, students, and their advocates solutions to the common challenges faced by breastfeeding health care workers and students. |
Additional Webinar Presentations |
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The Art & Practice of Facilitation: Designing Purposeful Meetings The second webinar in the 2019 Collective Impact Webinar series explored best practices for meeting design and facilitation in collaborative groups. Cheryl Lebedevitch, steward of the Workplace Support Constellation, and Andrea Serano, a participant in the Workplace Support Constellation, shared about how meeting design and approach has changed over time. |
Everything You Need to Know About Workplace Breastfeeding Law The USBC, the Center for WorkLife Law, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (WHD) came together on July 12, 2017 for the "Everything You Need to Know About Workplace Breastfeeding Law" webinar to discuss the laws protecting breastfeeding employees and the tools that can help support them. |
Resources
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Culture Plan The American Academy of Pediatrics published a resource titled "Culture Plan Supporting Breastfeeding Physicians and Trainees." The plan includes information about creating a culture of support for breastfeeding within the medical community and emphasizes support for breastfeeding medical practitioners at all levels of training as a part of medical practitioner wellness. AAP also released Culture Plan Infographics that highlight challenges for breastfeeding physicians and trainees and depict the four phases of creating a culture of breastfeeding support. This Culture Plan is intended to work in tandem with other components of the Physician Education and Training on Breastfeeding Action Plan. The USBC-affiliated Physician Education & Training Constellation and Workplace Support Constellation provided input and feedback at all stages of development. |
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Resource for Breastfeeding Parents To ensure that as many employees as possible have information about their workplace rights as well as practical solutions to make breastfeeding work during the pandemic and beyond, the Workplace Support Constellation developed a printable document titled "Your COVID-19 Workplace Rights: Breastfeeding and Lactation" for free download and distribution. Breastfeeding coalitions and other interested organizations are invited to develop and disseminate co-branded versions of the resource. See resources from:
The Workplace Support Constellation provided input and feedback at all stages of development. Special thanks to the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition, Mom2Mom Global, and the American Academy of Pediatrics for their contribution. |
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Sign On Letters
In November 2018, the USBC-affiliated Workplace Support Constellation coordinated a sign on letter in response to the Office on Women's Health (OWH) revision to the Supporting Nursing Moms at Work: Employer Solutions resource. The original resource, launched in 2014, was an on-line searchable, solutions-oriented resource, featuring a compendium of written content, photos, and videos demonstrating how real employers in 22 industry groups have utilized innovative, creative methods and strategies to provide breastfeeding support for their employees. In August 2018, OWH made significant revisions, including temporary removal of the Spanish language content and videos, removal of photographs showing industry-specific solutions to providing time and space accommodations, and removal of the majority of the videos from the Supporting Nursing Moms at Work webpages. The sign on letter requests an explanation on why critical content was removed as part of the revision of the OWH resource; urges OWH to immediately reinstate the original resource with content in both English and Spanish; and to take swift steps to develop a dissemination plan to ensure employers are aware of this valuable resource. OWH responded to the joint letter in December 2019.
| Date | File | |
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| 2019-09-23 | 2019-02-11 Breastfeeding Works: Legal Protections for Lactating Employees and Students in the Health | Details |
| 2019-09-23 | 2018-11-19 Sign on Letter to the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Office on Women's Health | Details |
| 2018-08-21 | 2018-08-21 Breastfeeding Works: How to Support Nursing Employees & Students | Details |
| 2017-07-12 | 2017-07-12 Everything You Need to Know About Workplace Breastfeeding Law | Details |