Breastfeeding in the Workplace: A Right or a Choice?

World Breastfeeding Week offers an important opportunity to revisit the legal and practical obligations employers owe to breastfeeding mothers returning to work. Having navigated this situation myself, and advised numerous clients on it over the years, I’ve seen firsthand where workplaces fall short and where they excel. Here, I outline the steps employers should take to ensure compliance and meaningful support.

Breastfeeding in the workplace is often approached as a practical issue. Is there a private room available? Can break times be adjusted? Is there somewhere suitable to store expressed milk?

However, these practical considerations form part of a much wider employment law issue. How an employer responds can affect an employee’s health, dignity and confidence on returning from maternity leave. It can also expose the organisation to claims of harassment or discrimination if the situation is handled poorly.

Employees may now feel more able to discuss family life and wellbeing at work, but breastfeeding can still be treated as an awkward or inherently personal subject. Some employees are uncertain about what they can ask for, while others worry that raising the issue could make them appear difficult or less committed to their role.

Employers may also be unsure about the extent of their legal obligations. However, uncertainty is not a reason to avoid the conversation. As a recent Employment Tribunal case demonstrates, overlooking a breastfeeding employee’s practical needs can have serious consequences.

Breastfeeding at work can look different for every employee

Continuing to breastfeed after returning to work does not necessarily mean feeding a baby in the workplace.

An employee may need to visit their home or a nearby nursery during a break. A partner, relative or childcare provider may bring the baby to the workplace. Alternatively, and perhaps most commonly, the employee may need somewhere private to express milk and a suitable place to store it.

There may also be a need to consider break times, shift patterns, working arrangements and the physical demands or risks associated with the employee’s role.

There is no single arrangement that will work for every employee or every organisation. What matters is that the employer listens, assesses the individual circumstances and gives proper consideration to what can reasonably be done.

A £40,000 warning for employers

The importance of that approach was brought into sharp focus by Mellor v The MFG Academies Trust.

Tara Mellor, a teacher, informed her employer on several occasions that she would need access to a private room to express breast milk when she returned from maternity leave. Despite those requests, a suitable space was not provided. She was consequently left expressing milk in the school toilets or in her car during a 25-minute lunch break.

Tara Mellor brought claims for direct sex discrimination, indirect sex discrimination and harassment related to sex. The Tribunal dismissed the direct and indirect discrimination claims but upheld the harassment claim. It found that she had reasonably and genuinely felt compelled to express milk in circumstances she did not want, creating an environment that was degrading and humiliating.

The case has subsequently been reported as resulting in an award of approximately £40,000.

The figure is attention-grabbing, but employers should not lose sight of the human experience behind it. This was an employee who had raised a foreseeable and manageable need before returning to work. The situation escalated not because the request was inherently complicated, but because it was not addressed effectively.

A workplace policy is not enough on its own

Employers should have clear policies covering pregnancy, maternity, family leave and the return to work. Ideally, these should explain how an employee can raise a need to breastfeed or express milk and who will be responsible for considering the arrangements.

However, a policy sitting on an intranet will not protect an employer if managers do not know how to apply it.

In my experience, workplace disputes often arise not because an organisation set out to treat someone unfairly, but because responsibility became unclear. A request may be mentioned informally to a manager, passed to HR without sufficient detail, or left unresolved because everybody assumes someone else is dealing with it.

The lesson from Mellor v The MFG Academies Trust is that employers must take ownership. A request should be acknowledged, recorded and followed through, with the agreed arrangements confirmed before the employee returns wherever possible.

What facilities should employers provide?

Employers must provide a suitable area where pregnant workers and breastfeeding mothers can rest. According to the Health and Safety Executive, the area should be hygienic and private so that an employee can express milk if they choose, should include somewhere to lie down if necessary and should offer somewhere to store expressed milk. Toilets are expressly identified as unsuitable for expressing.

That does not necessarily mean every organisation must create a permanent specialist room. Depending on the workplace, it may be possible to designate an existing private room for particular times of the day. The important questions are whether the space is genuinely private, clean, accessible and available when it is needed.

Simply telling an employee to find an empty room is unlikely to provide either the certainty or dignity they require.

Risk assessments should be meaningful, not mechanical

Once an employee has notified their employer in writing that they are breastfeeding, the employer’s health and safety responsibilities are engaged. An individual risk assessment should consider the employee’s particular work and circumstances, rather than relying solely on a generic maternity checklist.

Some roles may involve exposure to substances or working conditions that present specific risks. The Health and Safety Executive confirms that relevant risks should continue to be considered in the employee’s individual assessment for as long as they wish to breastfeed.

The risk assessment should also form part of an ongoing conversation. An employee’s needs, feeding arrangements and working pattern may change, so an arrangement that was appropriate on the first day back may need to be revisited later.

Flexibility does not have to mean disruption

A request relating to breastfeeding may involve additional or slightly longer breaks, an adjustment to shift times, temporary flexibility around working hours or access to a particular room at agreed times.

Operational pressures are, of course, relevant. Employers are entitled to consider how a proposed arrangement would affect the organisation. However, that assessment should be evidence-based rather than driven by assumptions about inconvenience.

Often, modest planning can resolve the issue. A short-term adjustment agreed before the employee returns may help the organisation retain an experienced colleague, support a successful transition back to work and prevent a manageable request from becoming a formal dispute.

Dignity should be the starting point

There is also a wider cultural issue for employers to consider.

Breastfeeding and expressing milk are intimate matters. Employees should not be made to feel embarrassed for raising them, nor should they be subjected to inappropriate comments, jokes or unwanted attention from colleagues.

Managers need the confidence to respond sensitively and practically. They do not need to become experts in breastfeeding, but they should understand when to involve HR, occupational health or legal advisers and recognise that dismissive language or delay can compound an already sensitive situation.

My advice to employers

Supporting breastfeeding employees should not be approached as an optional benefit for organisations that have the space or resources to offer it. It is part of managing health and safety responsibilities, reducing the risk of harassment or discrimination claims and treating people with dignity as they return from maternity leave.

My practical recommendations are to:

• raise the subject sensitively during return-to-work discussions;
• encourage employees to communicate their needs in writing and at an early stage;
• complete and regularly review an individual risk assessment;
• identify a clean, private and dependable space for expressing milk;
• consider reasonable changes to breaks, shifts or working arrangements;
• make responsibility for implementing the arrangements clear;
• train managers to handle requests consistently and respectfully; and
• protect employees from inappropriate comments or behaviour.

The question should not be whether breastfeeding is a “right” or a “choice”. The better question is whether an employer has created a workplace in which an employee can raise a reasonable need and trust that it will be taken seriously.

For employers, responding well is not only about avoiding a Tribunal claim. It is an opportunity to demonstrate that inclusion extends beyond written policies and into the everyday experiences of employees.

If you are an employer seeking advice about maternity rights, workplace adjustments, risk assessments or discrimination concerns, Sharney Randhawa and our Employment Team can provide practical, commercially focused support.