Supporting Working Moms Act (SWMA)

1/2017 Update: This bill will be reintroduced soon in the new 115^th Congress...please subscribe to USBC action alerts to ensure you receive updates!

Federal law currently provides mothers reasonable break time to express milk in a private, non-bathroom location, for one year after the child’s birth. Yet this provision only applies to "nonexempt" employees (hourly wage-earning and some salaried employees exempt from overtime). While this provides protection and support for the most vulnerable workers, this distinction in the law was unintentional and is causing confusion about who is covered and how to implement it efficiently and fairly in all worksites.

Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY-12) have sponsored the Supporting Working Moms Act in the 113^th and 114^th Congressional sessions to ensure a fair and uniform national policy by extending the existing federal provision to cover approximately 12 million additional salaried employees, including elementary and secondary school teachers. Twenty-eight U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia also have state legislation to support breastfeeding in the workplace.

The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding; the Institute of Medicine report, Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention; and the National Prevention Strategy each call on employers to establish and maintain lactation support programs for their employees. Yet in spite of this tremendous recognition and recent expansion of support for breastfeeding moms in the workplace, only some moms are guaranteed this right.

Senate Bill Number: TBD

• Read full text (coming soon)
• Check status (coming soon)
• Committee of jurisdiction: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

House Bill Number: TBD

• Read full text (coming soon)
• Check status (coming soon)
• Committee of jurisdiction: House Education and the Workforce, Subcommitee on Workforce Protections

Take Action

• Submit a story about your experience with the federal "Break Time for Nursing Mothers" law
• Use our online tool to write to your Representative and Senators (coming soon)
• Be sure to tell your friends, family, and colleagues to write as well! Use this link to share the campaign on social media: (coming soon)
• Tweet at your elected officials and candidates and ask them to support the bill (coming soon)
• National and state organizations are invited to sign on to a letter in support of the SWMA (coming soon)

Handouts/Resources for Visits

• U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC):
• Help Working Families Stay Healthy: Support Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers (fact sheet - 2015)
• Lactation Accommodations in the Workplace (position statement - 2011)
• Workplace Accommodations to Support and Protect Breastfeeding (background paper - 2010)
• U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (WHD):
  • Statutory language: full text of the "Break Time for Nursing Mothers" law
  • Fact Sheet #73: includes information on general requirements, time and location of breaks, and coverage and compensation requirements under the law
  • FAQs: answers many of the questions about the law
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health (OWH):
  • Supporting Nursing Moms at Work: Employer Solutions: online resource to support employers of breastfeeding women at work, searchable by either "industry" sector or "solution" type
  • Business Case for Breastfeeding: a comprehensive program developed to educate employers about the value of supporting breastfeeding employees in the workplace
• Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR):
• The Right Call: Breastfeeding Accommodations under the Affordable Care Act (Quick Figures - 2011)
• Better Health for Mothers and Children: Breastfeeding Accommodations under the Affordable Care Act (publication - 2010)

Related Materials

• Information on the federal "Nursing Breaks" law
• Merkley 2015 press release: "Senators Announce Introduction of Bipartisan Bill to Expand Breastfeeding Protections at Work"
• Maloney 2015 press release: "Merkley and Maloney Commend Labor Department Overtime Rule for Extending Breastfeeding Protection to Over 1 Million Working Women"

Relevant Cases / Real Stories

• Forbes: "Employers Routinely Break The Law When It Comes To Breastfeeding Moms"
• The Washington Post: "Teachers learn a lesson in loopholes when it comes to pumping breast milk"
• NBC News: "Pumped up: Breastfeeding mothers fight for rights at work"
• Daily Kos: "Many employers force nursing mothers to pump in bathrooms and fight for break time"
• Miami Herald: "Miami-Dade teachers want breastfeeding rights on the job"
• NBC News: "Pumped up: Breastfeeding mothers fight for rights at work"
• The Huffington Post: "Dirty Bathrooms, No Privacy: The Horrifying Struggles Of Breastfeeding Moms Who Need To Pump At Work"
• ACLU:
• "Restoring Dignity on the Job to Breastfeeding Mothers"
• "Want to Breastfeed Your Baby? You're Fired!"

Prior Versions of Similar Bills

• Supporting Working Moms Act of 2015: Senate and House
• Supporting Working Moms Act of 2013: Senate and House
• Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2011: Senate and House
• Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009
• Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007
• Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2005
• Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2003
• Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2001