As of April 2023, the PUMP Act (Provide Urgent Maternal Protections Act) added increased protections to the 2010 Break Time for Nursing Mothers Act.

Under these laws covered employers are required to:

• Provide breastfeeding workers time and space to pump for up to one year after childbirth.
• The space must be private, functional, and not a bathroom. A private space means that the designated lactation area is shielded from view and free from intrusion by coworkers or the public
• The time must be reasonable break time to pump each time the worker needs to express milk while working
• If the worker is not completely relieved from duty, the break time to express milk must also be paid.

It is illegal for an employer to retaliate against you for vindicating your rights or asking for your legally owed lactation space. If you feel that your right to pump or breastfeed at work has been violated, you can file a complaint with the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Office, or you can file a lawsuit.

Lactating students also have the right to pump or nurse while in school through Title IX’s protections against discrimination based on sex. Schools are required to provide “reasonable academic modifications,” which may include breaks to lactate, without penalty.

Your school must make accommodations for your lactation-related health needs, such as:  

• New uniforms;
• Permission to eat or drink; or
• Time off to address complications.

This list is just a sampling of what may be considered reasonable accommodation; and your school must engage in conversation to determine what reasonable accommodation would meet your specific needs.

Like in the workplace, Title IX also requires that students have access to a clean, non-bathroom, lactation space that is safe, functional, and free from intrusion. Finally, your school must protect you from harassment or discrimination related to lactation, including negative comments.

If you are a Delaware student and have not been given adequate accommodations or have faced lactation-related harassment, contact your Title IX coordinator, or the ACLU of Delaware.

While all 50 states have laws protecting some extent of lactation in public, these laws vary in specifics. In Delaware, your right to breastfeed in places of public accommodation is legally protected.

31 DE Code § 310 (2022): “a mother shall be entitled to breast-feed her child in any location of a place of public accommodation wherein the mother is otherwise permitted.”