Suzanne Berman asked "Does anyone have any experience getting pumping time
covered under the United States Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?"
I don't have experience, Suzanne, but I checked on the National Parternship
for Women and Families website (http://www.nationalpartnership.org/). (They
are a U.S. NGO that had a major involvement with the campaign for the FMLA.)
They linked to an article from USA Today at
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2005-05-25-medical-leave-us
at_x.htm, which says that, yes, FML can be taken in small chunks. "The law
currently allows employees to take time off in small chunks of time - say, a
half hour one day to undergo radiation therapy, for example, or a few hours
to see a doctor."
In 1999, when WABA and other groups were advocating for breastfeeding
protection as part of the ILO's Maternity Protection Convention, I proposed
that a woman ought to have the option to use some of her maternity leave by
trading 40 hours (one week) of leave for 40 days back at work with a
one-hour nursing break each day. If she has the right to paid leave, but not
to paid nursing breaks, this would be one way she could afford to miss those
minutes every day. Yet her employer ought to be happy with this idea because
the woman would come back to work sooner, requiring less need to pay for a
substitute. I haven't ever heard of anyone trying this idea, but it makes
good sense in the abstract.
I hope you'll let us know how the situation turns out.
Chris
Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC
LLL Leader Reserve
working for WIC in South Jersey (Eastern USA)
Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, WABA
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