If you feel your employer is not providing you with adequate break time and/or a place to express milk as provided for in LAB §1030 , you may file a report/claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Bureau of Field Enforcement (BOFE) at the BOFE office nearest your place of employment.

Know Your Breastfeeding Laws (PDF)  | Employer Solutions 

Cal. Health and Safety Code § 123360 . The State Department of Public Health shall develop a model eight-hour training course of hospital policies and recommendations that promote exclusive breast-feeding, incorporating available materials already developed by the department, and shall specify hospital staff for whom this model training is appropriate.

Cal. Health and Safety Code § 1257 . The department shall recommend training to improve breast-feeding rates among mothers and infants for general acute care hospitals that provide maternity care and have exclusive patient breast-feeding rates in the lowest 25 percent.

Cal. Health and Safety Code § 123365  Requires general hospitals and special hospitals providing maternity care to make available breast feeding consultation or alternatively, provide information to the mother on where to receive breast feeding information.

Cal. Health and Safety Code § 123366  Hospital Infant Feeding Act ( ) All general acute care hospitals and special hospitals that have a perinatal unit shall have an infant-feeding policy that utilizes guidance provided by the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative or the State Department of Public Health Model Hospital Policy Recommendations. This section shall become operative January 1, 2014.

Cal. Health and Safety Code § 123367  All general acute care hospitals and special hospitals that have a perinatal unit will adopt the “Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding,” as adopted by Baby-Friendly USA, per the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, or an alternate process adopted by a health care service plan that includes evidence-based policies and practices and targeted outcomes, or the Model Hospital Policy Recommendations by January 1, 2025​.

Government Code sections 12900 - 12996The Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits harassment and discrimination in employment because of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, mental and physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, age, military and veteran status, pregnancy, denial of medical and family care leave, or pregnancy disability leave. Government Code 12926 expands the definition of sex discrimination to include pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, plus any medically related conditions regarding pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.

Resources:

• To file a complaint, visit the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing website .
• California Law Prohibits Workplace Discrimination and Harassment : Information on employee protections. Employers are required to post this document.
• Guide to the Rights of Breastfeeding Employees in California 
• California Work & Family Coalition  Tools and resources to learn about work-family laws and about how to access your rights when you need them.

California Code, Government Code - GOV § 12945.6  Makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period (1) for reason of a child born to, adopted by, or placed for foster care with, the employee, (2) to care for the employee’s parent or spouse who has a serious health condition, as defined, or (3) because the employee is suffering from a serious health condition rendering him or her unable to perform the functions of the job.

California Code, Government Code - GOV § 12945.2  Makes it an unlawful employment practice for any employer to refuse to grant a request by any employee with more than 12 months of service with the employer, and who has at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the previous 12-month period or who meets the requirements of subdivision (r), to take up to a total of 12 workweeks in any 12-month period for family care and medical leave. Family care and medical leave requested pursuant to this subdivision shall not be deemed to have been granted unless the employer provides the employee, upon granting the leave request, a guarantee of employment in the same or a comparable position upon the termination of the leave.

Education Code 66271.9  The California Community Colleges and the California State University shall, and a satellite campus of these systems and the University of California are encouraged to, provide reasonable accommodations on their respective campuses for a lactating student to express breast milk, breast-feed an infant child, or address other needs related to breast-feeding.

Education Code 222  A school operated by a school district or a county office of education, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and a charter school shall provide reasonable accommodations to a lactating pupil on a school campus to to express breast milk, breast-feed an infant child, or address other needs related to breast-feeding.

Raising the Grade for Breastfeeding Access in California Schools , California Women’s Law Center. Report identifies the five most important policies that students and employees need to understand their breastfeeding rights and feel supported. Each California school district was compared to these 5 policies.

California Code, Government Code - GOV § 12945.6  Makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period (1) for reason of a child born to, adopted by, or placed for foster care with, the employee, (2) to care for the employee’s parent or spouse who has a serious health condition, as defined, or (3) because the employee is suffering from a serious health condition rendering him or her unable to perform the functions of the job.

California Code, Government Code - GOV § 12945.2  Makes it an unlawful employment practice for any employer to refuse to grant a request by any employee with more than 12 months of service with the employer, and who has at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the previous 12-month period or who meets the requirements of subdivision (r), to take up to a total of 12 workweeks in any 12-month period for family care and medical leave. Family care and medical leave requested pursuant to this subdivision shall not be deemed to have been granted unless the employer provides the employee, upon granting the leave request, a guarantee of employment in the same or a comparable position upon the termination of the leave.