New Posting Requirement for DC’s Breastfeeding Notice

The District of Columbia’s The Right to Breastfeed notice is now required to be posted and has been added to the Workplace & Business Posters list on the Office of Human Rights (OHR) website. While the notice has been available for some time, it was only recently designated a mandatory posting.

Employees’ Rights & Employers’ Responsibilities

Under the amended DC Human Rights Act of 1977, employers are required to give employees reasonable daily unpaid break time to express milk, unless it would cause undue hardship for the employer. This break time may run concurrently with another paid or unpaid break time already provided to the employee.

As stated on The Right to Breastfeed notice, employers must also make reasonable efforts to provide a sanitary room or other location close to the work area—other than a bathroom or toilet stall—where an employee can have both privacy and security when expressing milk.

Additionally, employers are required to create a breastfeeding policy and display a poster delineating the requirements of the policy in a conspicuous location.

Should an employer violate the Act, employees must file a complaint within 1 year of the violation or discovery of the violation. For DC government employees, complaints must be filed within 180 days of an occurrence or discovery.

Employees who believe they are being discriminated against under the Act may contact the DC Office of Human Rights by phone or online at ohr.dc.gov.

We Make Compliance Easy!

If you have not already done so, we encourage you to order our 1-Year Compliance Plan so that you will automatically receive the updated District of Columbia poster as soon as it is available. And because our plan provides free poster updates for mandatory changes, no matter how many occur during the 12-month period, you can always count on Poster Compliance Center to keep your business in compliance!