Breast Milk Pumping Right Enforced

A nursing mother working at Paula’s Pancake House and the Belgian Café in Solvang, which have shared ownership, received $666 in back wages and damages after the two popular tourist restaurants denied her the time to express her milk, the U.S. Department of Labor announced on January 11.

After the employee spoke up, she also found herself on a later shift and slower section of the counter, which resulted in lost tips. Investigators from the Department of Labor verified the violations, and the two restaurants have agreed to train its management staff on an employee’s right to a place shielded from the public and intrusion — that is not a bathroom — in which to pump breast milk.