District of Columbia’s new “The Right to Breastfeed” poster must be posted by all employers, public and private. Specifically, DC’s Final Rule (§ 4-518.2) requires that employers conspicuously post and maintain in the workplace a notice containing the Office of Human Rights’ information regarding employers’ and employee’s rights and obligations under the employment guidelines adopted to implement the 2007 breastfeeding anti-discrimination provisions of the Human Rights Act (D.C. Official Code § 2-1401.01 et seq.).
The Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on breastfeeding in employment, housing, public accommodations, and educational institutions, including all agencies of the District of Columbia government and its contractors or grantees. Under Rule 518, a breastfeeding employee’s rights include the right to:
- breastfeed in any location, public or private, where she has the right to be with her child;
- breastfeed or express breast milk in accordance with the rule, notwithstanding any other law governing indecent exposure;
- be free from any workplace disciplinary action because of the exposure of any part of her breast during breastfeeding or while expressing breast milk;
- be free from harassment or ridicule in the workplace because of her breastfeeding or expressing breast milk; and
- workplace accommodations while breastfeeding or expressing breast milk.
Employers are also required to create a policy with respect to its employees who are breastfeeding mothers, and post the policy along with the notice required by § 518.2.
The new “The Right to Breastfeed” notice is now featured on Compliance Poster Company’s Washington, D.C. All-On-One poster.