REPORT TITLE:
Breastfeeding


DESCRIPTION:
Requires the State Commission on the Status of Women to
accumulate, compile, and publish data concerning instances of
discrimination involving breastfeeding or expressing breastmilk
in the workplace.  Prohibits an employer from penalizing an
employee who breastfeeds or expresses milk at the workplace.
(SB825 HD2)



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        825
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                H.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO BREASTFEEDING.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that women with infants
 
 2 and toddlers are the fastest growing segment of today's labor
 
 3 force, with at least fifty per cent of pregnant women who are
 
 4 employed returning to work by the time their children are three
 
 5 months old.
 
 6      The legislature further finds that the American Academy of
 
 7 Pediatrics recommends that women breastfeed for at least the
 
 8 first twelve months of a child's life and urges that arrangements
 
 9 be made to provide for expressing breastmilk if the mother and
 
10 child are separated.
 
11      The legislature further finds that women who wish to
 
12 continue breastfeeding after returning to work have relatively
 
13 few needs, such as the availability of suitable, dependable, and
 
14 efficient breast pumps; a clean, convenient, safe, private, and
 
15 comfortable location to express milk at the worksite; the
 
16 opportunity to pump their breasts frequently enough to maintain
 
17 their milk supply; and an adequate place to temporarily store
 
18 their expressed milk.
 
19      The purpose of this Act is to promote breastfeeding by:
 

 
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 1      (1)  Permitting employers to provide employees with time
 
 2           during the work day for breastfeeding or expressing
 
 3           milk;
 
 4      (2)  Prohibiting discriminatory employment practices against
 
 5           women who breastfeed or express milk at the workplace;
 
 6           and
 
 7      (3)  Requiring the state commission on the status of women
 
 8           to compile and publish information on workplace
 
 9           discrimination against lactating employees.
 
10     SECTION 2.  Section 387, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
11 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
12 read as follows:
 
13     "§387-     Breastfeeding.  An employer may provide employees
 
14 with adequate time during the working day for the sole purpose of
 
15 breastfeeding or expressing milk for a period not to exceed one
 
16 year after the birth of a child."
 
17     SECTION 3.  Section 367-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
18 amended to read as follows:
 
19     "§367-3 Duties of commission.  The commission shall:
 
20     (1)   Act as a central clearinghouse and coordinating body
 
21           for governmental and nongovernmental activities and
 
22           information relating to the status of women;
 

 
 
 
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 1     (2)   Accumulate, compile, and publish information concerning
 
 2           instances of actual discrimination, and discrimination
 
 3           in the law, against women[;], including instances of
 
 4           discrimination involving breastfeeding or expressing
 
 5           breastmilk in the workplace under chapter 378.  For
 
 6           purposes of this paragraph, the term "breastfeeding"
 
 7           means the feeding of a child directly from the breast
 
 8           by a lactating woman;
 
 9     (3)   Cooperate with the department of labor and industrial
 
10           relations and other state departments and agencies and
 
11           appropriate federal offices and agencies in correcting
 
12           unlawful employment practices, in public and private
 
13           employment, involving discrimination because of sex;
 
14     (4)   Create public awareness and understanding of the
 
15           responsibilities, needs, potentials, and contributions
 
16           of women as homemakers, workers, and active
 
17           participants in community life and of the importance of
 
18           each of these roles in the changing society;
 
19     (5)   Recommend legislative and administrative action on
 
20           equal treatment and opportunities for women;
 
21     (6)   Seek improvements in educational and counseling
 
22           programs and policies to meet the needs of girls and
 
23           women in order better to prepare them for their roles
 
24           in the home and community;
 

 
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 1     (7)   Encourage a long-range program of education of women in
 
 2           their political rights and responsibilities,
 
 3           particularly with respect to their voting duties;
 
 4     (8)   Maintain contacts with appropriate federal, state,
 
 5           local and international agencies concerned with the
 
 6           status of women;
 
 7     (9)   Cooperate with national groups on the status of women
 
 8           and arrange for participation by representatives of the
 
 9           State in White House conferences and other national
 
10           conferences from time to time;
 
11     (10)  Administer funds allocated for its work; be authorized
 
12           to accept, disburse, and allocate funds which may
 
13           become available from other governmental and private
 
14           sources; provided that all such funds shall be
 
15           disbursed or allocated in compliance with any specific
 
16           designation stated by the donor and in the absence of
 
17           such specific designation, such funds shall be
 
18           disbursed or allocated on projects related to any of
 
19           the purposes of this chapter; and
 
20     (11)  Submit an annual report with recommendations to the
 
21           governor and the legislature."
 
22      SECTION 4.  Section 378-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
23 amended to read as follows:
 

 
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 1      "§378-2 Discriminatory practices made unlawful; offenses
 
 2 defined.  It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice:
 
 3      (1)  Because of race, sex, sexual orientation, age,
 
 4           religion, color, ancestry, disability, marital status,
 
 5           or arrest and court record:
 
 6           (A)  For any employer to refuse to hire or employ or to
 
 7                bar or discharge from employment, or otherwise to
 
 8                discriminate against any individual in
 
 9                compensation or in the terms, conditions, or
 
10                privileges of employment;
 
11           (B)  For any employment agency to fail or refuse to
 
12                refer for employment, or to classify or otherwise
 
13                to discriminate against, any individual;
 
14           (C)  For any employer or employment agency to print,
 
15                circulate, or cause to be printed or circulated
 
16                any statement, advertisement, or publication or to
 
17                use any form of application for employment or to
 
18                make any inquiry in connection with prospective
 
19                employment, which expresses, directly or
 
20                indirectly, any limitation, specification, or
 
21                discrimination;
 
22           (D)  For any labor organization to exclude or expel
 
23                from its membership any individual or to
 

 
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 1                discriminate in any way against any of its
 
 2                members, employer, or employees; or
 
 3           (E)  For any employer or labor organization to refuse
 
 4                to enter into an apprenticeship agreement as
 
 5                defined in section 372-2; provided that no
 
 6                apprentice shall be [less] younger than sixteen
 
 7                years of age;
 
 8      (2)  For any employer, labor organization, or employment
 
 9           agency to discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate
 
10           against any individual because the individual has
 
11           opposed any practice forbidden by this part or has
 
12           filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any
 
13           proceeding respecting the discriminatory practices
 
14           prohibited under this part;
 
15      (3)  For any person whether an employer, employee, or not,
 
16           to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of
 
17           any of the discriminatory practices forbidden by this
 
18           part, or to attempt to do so;
 
19      (4)  For any employer to violate the provisions of section
 
20           121-43 relating to nonforfeiture for absence by members
 
21           of the national guard;
 
22      (5)  For any employer to refuse to hire or employ or to bar
 
23           or discharge from employment, any individual because of
 

 
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 1           assignment of income for the purpose of satisfying the
 
 2           individual's child support obligations as provided for
 
 3           under section 571-52; [or]
 
 4      (6)  For any employer, labor organization, or employment
 
 5           agency to exclude or otherwise deny equal jobs or
 
 6           benefits to a qualified individual because of the known
 
 7           disability of an individual with whom the qualified
 
 8           individual is known to have a relationship or
 
 9           association[.]; or
 
10      (7)  For any employer or labor organization to refuse to
 
11           hire or employ, or to bar or discharge from employment,
 
12           or withhold pay, demote, or penalize a lactating
 
13           employee because an employee breastfeeds or expresses
 
14           milk at the workplace.  For purposes of this paragraph,
 
15           the term "breastfeeds" means the feeding of a child
 
16           directly from the breast."
 
17      SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
18 New statutory material is underscored.
 
19      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.