New York City Will Require Employers to Provide Greater Workplace Accommodations for Lactating Employees

On November 17, 2018, Sections 8-102 and 8-107(22) of the New York City Administrative Code were amended to require employers in New York City with four1 or more employees to (1) provide designated lactation room(s) for employees and (2) implement a lactation room accommodation policy. New York City law already prohibited discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions and obligated employers to provide reasonable accommodations to nursing employees and to display a poster to alert employees about their rights to express milk in the workplace.2 The new amendments—which will take effect on March 18, 2019—expand on these requirements, as well as on the 2007 New York State Nursing Mothers Rights at Work Law.3