AUGUSTA — A bill to protect nursing moms in Maine won a 90-52 vote of approval in the House and now faces a Senate vote.
The measure would make an employer’s failure to provide accommodations for a nursing employee unlawful employment discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act.
State law now requires employers to grant nursing workers unpaid break time and a clean location, other than a bathroom, to express milk in private. The Judiciary Committee’s House chairman, Rep. Charles Priest of Brunswick, says the panel heard from women whose testimony showed that current state law is insufficient.
Priest, a Democrat, says current penalties are toothless and do nothing to help women who need to express milk at work.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.