Question for Working Moms Who Pump at Work

D.,
The office that I work at did not require me to clock out. I pumped in the morning and in the afternoon. Best Wishes!

My immediate supervisor is making me clock out during the times that I have to pump. The problem is that we are allowed two 15min breaks, but I am still having to clock out during my morning and afternoon pumping times. On top of all this, I am forced to use the bathroom that is in our classroom that I work in or I can use the closet. The bathroom has been turned into a storage place. There is a small fridge, microwave, table (broken down), and small shelf. The bathroom is maybe only 5ftx6ft and all that stuff is now in there. The closet gives me just enough room to turn around and slide a foot or so to one side as I step in.
I am very agitated about this and am trying to get something done about it. I only returned to work two weeks ago and do not need the stress on the body so that I will keep producing milk for my infant.

I am hourly and this my 2nd pg that I am pumping at work. For the first and this time, I do not have to clock out to pump. It's never been an issue and my managers have never come to me regarding this.

Hope this helps.

When I was pumping, we didn't have to clock out. I used my "scheduled" breaks to pump and my lunch. There should be no reason to clock out unless you usually have to for breaks. My work gives us two 15 minute paid breaks and a 30 min non paid lunch break per 8 hours (I'm a nurse). So I would think if they make you clock out for breaks solely bc you're pumping, that's discrimination. Not sure, but le leche league always has tons of info regarding that stuff!
Good Luck

Mine didn't require me to clock out but they expected me to do it on my breaks and lunch. They were willing to shift my 15 min breaks around to give me a 30 minute block in the day if it took me longer to pump...guess it just depends on the beneviolence of your employer and how much they value family values.

hi D.!
i nursed my son for 16 months and i only took 3 months off work...so i pumped a lot while back on the job. i was never required to clock out. if you work an 8 hour day...they are required by law to give you 2-4 15 minute breaks, plus your lunch break. therefore, you shouldn't have to clock out to pump. i work at a bank and sat in our back room to pump. it was NEVER an issue that i didn't clock out and i did ask many times before i returned to work what the "rules" were regarding this situation. that's when i found out about the 15 minute breaks during an 8 hour work day. you should be fine and good luck to you!

No, I was not required to clock out and I don't know for sure, but I think that it is a law that your employer has to give you time to pump at work if you are breastfeeding. My work didn't have the proper amenitities for the women here at work and we showed them the standard where they not only had to give us ample time to pump, but they were also required to provide us a clean environment to pump other than the bathroom. Administration was not happy, but they had to compy, they even had to turn an office into a private "pump room" for the mothers that are pumping here at work. It's not much, but it is 10 times better than being in the bathroom trying to get the job done.

I am an hourly contractor. I do not clock-in/out as it is, but I have never accounted for the time I spend pumping. I have been pumping for 12 months. As far as I concerned, it should be a non-issue. I'm expected to use the restroom or if I smoked, it would be okay for me to go outside for 10 minutes, so what is the problem with me taking 20 minutes twice a day to pump?

My daughter is 3 and I pumped for 12 months. I worked at a pharmacy and the only time I clocked out was for my lunch break. Pumping was a non issue and I was told that they both had to offer me a place to pump and allow me time to pump. Although they have to do this, that does not mean that it is always easy, especially if you are in a high stress or fast paced job. I tried to pump three times a day, which in no way kept up with how my daughter ate. We had some milk stockpiled prior to me going back to work. I would highly suggest that you start pumping as soon as your milk comes in. Pump first thing in the morning, when the volume is high.

Yep, my work place makes us clock out.
Kind of irritates me because we have a 5 hour morning (work in a doctor's office) and we are entitled to a 15 min. break. I saved my bathroom trips up for the break so I could pump...only to be told I had to clock out while pumping, which takes about 15 minutes.

Now, if we count the number of trips/amount of time everyone else takes to the bathroom, the trips down to the kitchen for more coffee and snacks, etc.....guess who is gone for a lesser amount of time?

I also pumped at lunch or depending on who was watching the baby would run home to feed her. More often than not I would have to pump. And THAT depended on what doctor you were working for - we are supposed to get a 1 hour lunch. One doctor in particular runs way behind, and like yesterday, I only had 18 min. of the actual lunch hour left before I could go down to eat.
So, I had to eat really fast, then pump for just a few minutes -
Good luck!

i am salaried, which makes it a lot easier for me. what i did was use my breaks to pump. if i took a little more time, then i gave myself a shorter lunch. but make sure you pencil in your breaks. I had a boss who kept me in a meeting for 3 hours before i finally had to say 'Um, Paul...i gotta go...then he noticed i was leaking...how embarrassing'

I Guess I am going to have a different opinion that the other Moms do...
I work in a pharmacy...and our pharmacy manager was pumping for her baby a couple of years ago. She always sat at her desk in the back of the pharmacy and pumped while she ate her lunch. She was off the clock...on her own time.
I do not know what kind of job you have...but I don't think it is probably possible for you to do your job and pump at the same time.
I do not believe that employees should ask the employer to pay them when they are not actually doing their job. If you had a physical injury that needed to have the bandages changed during the day, you wouldn't expect your employer to pay you while you were spending 20 -30 minutes doing that would you??? Now I am not equating breastfeeding to an injury...but it is just the idea of not being able to do your job while you are attending to something. Maybe that was a bad example...lol. If you needed to run an errand, you would clock out, I see the breast feeding issue in the same light, something that YOU need to do that is not involved with your work.
I breast fed all three of my children, but I was lucky enough to be able to be a stay at home Mom at the time, so it wasn't an issue with me.
R. Ann

I pumped at work with my first. I have been lucky to be a SAHM when we had our second child. So it has been a while. I went into to work about 20 minutes earlier and pumped. WE did not get two 10 minute breaks, we only received a 1/2 hour lunch. I worked it out with my boss that I could break my lunch up and I pumped 3 times through out the day for a little less than 10 minutes at a time. I had a nice duo breast pump, so I pumped both sides at once. Then if at the end of the day, if I thought I would be to uncomfortable for the ride home I would pump for a few minutes before I left work. In total I believe a pumped around 21 ounces a day. I hope this helps.

hey D.,

with my first son (i'm pregnant again w/another boy- due on 4/30) i usually pumped during my breaks. At my job, we don't time out for breaks anyway so it wasn't a big issue. If that is how your job works that may be a starting point, but if you have to pump in between those times (like during lunch) you may see if they can give you an extra few minutes and you come in earlier or stay a little later to make up the difference. hope i helped,

R.

When I nursed, I found it easy to just nurse form 6pm until 6 am. My body adjusted.
R. George
www.lovingyourfamily.com

No, I was not required to clock out when I pumped. I pumped twice a day and it took about 10-15 minutes each time. If you are asked to clock out, you are allowed 2 15-minute breaks and 1 30-minute break per 8 hours you work.

Hi D.:
Does your work require smokers to clock out when they have a cigarette? Probably not...but it normally depends whether the boss is a smoker/reformed smoker or not.

I never worked while my kids were little but I do payroll now so we had to address this. We decided it was no different than those taking constant smoking breaks. Actually the employee pumped far less than those smokers smoked. Okay kinda a pet peeve of mine considering that once an hour they are out there smoking and chatting for fifteen minutes while I work to keep them paid.

Point is it is an accomidatable activity. You not only have to allow a reasonable time to pump but you also must supply a reasonable place to do so.