REPORT TITLE:
Breastfeeding


DESCRIPTION:
Requires the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission to accumulate,
compile, and publish data concerning instances of discrimination
involving breastfeeding or expressing breastmilk in the
workplace.  Disallows employers to prohibit an employee from
expressing breastmilk during any meal period or other break
period required by law to be provided by the employer or required
by a collective bargaining agreement. (HB266 CD1)



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        266
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII                                            C.D. 1
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO NEW MOTHERS BREASTFEEDING PROMOTION AND PROTECTION
   ACT.



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:
 

 
Page 2                                                     266
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        S.D. 2
                                                        C.D. 1
                                                        

 1      (1)  Disallowing an employer to prohibit an employee from
 
 2           expressing breastmilk during any meal period or other
 
 3           break period required by law to be provided by the
 
 4           employer or required by collective bargaining
 
 5           agreement;
 
 6      (2)  Prohibiting discriminatory employment practices against
 
 7           women who breastfeed or express milk at the workplace;
 
 8           and
 
 9      (3)  Requiring the Hawaii civil rights commission to compile
 
10           and publish information on workplace discrimination
 
11           against lactating employees.
 
12     SECTION 2.  Section 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
13 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
14 read as follows:
 
15     "�378-     Breastfeeding.  No employer shall prohibit an
 
16 employee from expressing breastmilk during any meal period or
 
17 other break period required by law to be provided by the employer
 
18 or required by collective bargaining agreement."
 
19     SECTION 3.  Section 378-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
20 amended to read as follows:
 
21     "�378-2 Discriminatory practices made unlawful; offenses
 
22 defined.  It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice:
 

 
 
 
Page 3                                                     266
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        S.D. 2
                                                        C.D. 1
                                                        

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

 
Page 4                                                     266
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        S.D. 2
                                                        C.D. 1
                                                        

 1           (E)  For any employer or labor organization to refuse
 
 2                to enter into an apprenticeship agreement as
 
 3                defined in section 372-2; provided that no
 
 4                apprentice shall be [less] younger than sixteen
 
 5                years of age;
 
 6     (2)   For any employer, labor organization, or employment
 
 7           agency to discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate
 
 8           against any individual because the individual has
 
 9           opposed any practice forbidden by this part or has
 
10           filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any
 
11           proceeding respecting the discriminatory practices
 
12           prohibited under this part;
 
13     (3)   For any person whether an employer, employee, or not,
 
14           to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of
 
15           any of the discriminatory practices forbidden by this
 
16           part, or to attempt to do so;
 
17     (4)   For any employer to violate the provisions of section
 
18           121-43 relating to nonforfeiture for absence by members
 
19           of the national guard;
 
20     (5)   For any employer to refuse to hire or employ or to bar
 
21           or discharge from employment, any individual because of
 
22           assignment of income for the purpose of satisfying the
 
23           individual's child support obligations as provided for
 
24           under section 571-52; [or]
 

 
Page 5                                                     266
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        S.D. 2
                                                        C.D. 1
                                                        

 1     (6)   For any employer, labor organization, or employment
 
 2           agency to exclude or otherwise deny equal jobs or
 
 3           benefits to a qualified individual because of the known
 
 4           disability of an individual with whom the qualified
 
 5           individual is known to have a relationship or
 
 6           association[.]; or
 
 7     (7)   For any employer or labor organization to refuse to
 
 8           hire or employ, or to bar or discharge from employment,
 
 9           or withhold pay, demote, or penalize a lactating
 
10           employee because an employee breastfeeds or expresses
 
11           milk at the workplace.  For purposes of this paragraph,
 
12           the term "breastfeeds" means the feeding of a child
 
13           directly from the breast."
 
14     SECTION 4.  The Hawaii civil rights commission shall
 
15 accumulate, compile, and publish data concerning incidences of
 
16 discrimination involving breastfeeding or expressing breastmilk
 
17 in the workplace.  The commission shall submit a report to the
 
18 legislature on its findings no later than twenty days prior to
 
19 the convening of the 2000 legislature.
 
20     SECTION 5.  Nothing in this Act prohibits employers from
 
21 establishing internal rules and guidelines for employees who may
 
22 wish to breastfeed or express breastmilk in the workplace.
 
23     SECTION 6.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
24 New statutory material is underscored.
 
25     SECTION 7.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.