Int. No. 879
By Council Members Cumbo, Cornegy, Rosenthal, Chin, Rivera, Rose, Ayala, Ampry-Samuel, Koslowitz, Cabrera and Constantinides
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring certain employers to provide lactation spaces
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Section 8-107 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision 31 to read as follows:
31. Employer Lactation Accommodation (a) Definitions. When used in this subdivision, the following terms have the following meanings:
Employer. The term "employer" has the same meaning as such term is defined in section 8-102 of this chapter, provided, however, that when used in this subdivision, the term “employer” shall only include any employer with 15 or more employees.
Lactation space. The term "lactation space" means a sanitary place that is not a restroom that can be used to breastfeed or express milk shielded from view and free from intrusion by coworkers and the public and which includes at minimum an electrical outlet, a chair, a surface to place a breast pump and other personal items and nearby access to running water.
(b) Lactation accommodation. An employer shall, upon request by an employee, provide the following to accommodate an employee desiring to express breast milk:
(1) A lactation space in reasonable proximity to the employee’s work area.
(2) A refrigerator in reasonable proximity to the employee’s work area suitable for breast milk storage.
(c) If a space designated by an employer to serve as a lactation space is also used for another purpose, the primary function of the space shall be as a lactation space during the duration of an employee’s need to express milk. During the period when the space is being used as a lactation space and also for other purposes, the employer shall provide notice to other employees that the primary use of the space is a lactation space, which takes precedence over other uses.
(d) Where more than one employer is located in the same building and the employer cannot satisfy the requirements of paragraph (b) of this subdivision by providing a lactation space within the employer’s workspace, the employer may fulfill the obligations of paragraph (b) of this subdivision by providing a lactation space that is shared by multiple employers, provided that it is sufficient to accommodate the number of employees who desire to use it at any given time.
(e) An employer is exempt from the requirements of this section if such employer shows that such requirements would impose an undue hardship by causing such employer significant expense or operational difficulty when considered in relation to the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of such employer’s business.
(f) The presence of a lactation space pursuant to this subdivision does not affect an individual’s right to breastfeed in public pursuant to article 7 of the civil rights law.
§ 2. This local law takes effect on the same effective date as section 3 of local law 63 for the year 2018, except that the commission on human rights shall take such measures as necessary for this implementation of this local law, including the promulgation of rules, before such date.
AB/BM
LS #1012
5/4/18, 11:45 am