THE WHY, HOW AND WHAT OF LACTATION CENTRES AT THE WORKPLACE.
Happy new month! In our employment and labor relations update for this month, we decode the law on lactation centers in Kenya and also share a few best practices on family friendly work places.
Generally, working lactating mothers are protected from discrimination or victimization on that ground, under the Employment Act, the Health Act, the Constitution and other laws. The Health Act, 2017 protects lactating mothers and requires employers to provide lactating stations for breastfeeding mothers. The health Act was assented to on 21st June 2017 and commenced on 7th July 2017.
Section 71 of the Health Act states that all employers shall establish lactation stations in the workplace, which shall be adequately provided with necessary equipment and facilities including hand washing equipment, refrigerates or appropriate cooling facilities, electrical outlets for breast pumps, a small table comfortable seats the standard of which shall be defined by the Ministry responsible for matters relating to health. The lactation station shall not be located in the rest rooms. Section 72 of the Act states that an employer shall grant all nursing employees provision of break intervals for nursing break intervals in addition to the regular times off for meals employees to breastfeed or express milk. The time intervals referred to shall include the time it takes an employee to get to and from the lactation station and shall be counted as compensable hours worked provided that such intervals shall not be more than a total of one hour for every eight hours’ working period.
However, heated debates have been on implementation of this piece of legislation, vis a vis productivity of the employee and the accruing benefit to both employer and employee. The World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to 6 months exclusively and thereafter, diet supplemented up to 2 years. As the country makes strides towards universal health coverage (UHC), maternal and child health care should be at the core of every enabler, as breastfeeding provides unique health benefits to both the mother and the child. The ministry of health has given guidelines for support of breastfeeding women. (http://www.health.go.ke/wp content/uploads/2018/11/GUIDELINES-FOR-WORKPLACE-SUPPORT-FOR-WOMEN-SOFTY COPY-SAMPLE-converted.pdf ).
Once passed into law, it will offer insights on how to support workers who must breastfeed. Recent cases have leaned towards protection of lactating mothers at the workplace (http://kenyalaw.org/caselaw/cases/view/177664/) and elsewhere, such as the criminal justice system (http://kenyalaw.org/caselaw/cases/view/170380/ )
Meanwhile, in as much as the law sets the bare minimum, employers are at liberty to give much more as a good practice under the Industrial Relations Charter and generally. On or around 7th August 2019, there was uproar over the decision by the speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, to eject Hon. Zulekha Hassan from the August house for sneaking in her 5 months’ old infant. The defence by the Kwale County’s women rep was that the National Assembly had not provided a lactation centre. Parliament’s defence was that it had provided a lactation centre, only that it was not fully operational. This debacle has opened up a broader debate on emerging ways to create family friendly work places. (http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2019-08/Hansard%20Report%20 %20Wednesday%2C%207th%20August%202019%28P%29.pdf ). Safaricom PLC has been applauded for providing crèche services for their staff. So is Nestle. KEPSA in partnership with UNICEF is implementing the “Better Business Practices for Children (BBPC) initiative”, aimed at improving maternal and infant nutrition through making the workplaces mother and baby friendly (https://kepsa.or.ke/better-business-for-children/). These are but a few examples.
There is a strong case for enabling breastfeeding friendly work places but intrinsically striking the balance with the operational requirements of every employer as each employer and work place is unique. It is not only fair but practical.
With best wishes from the team at Mercy Kareithi & Co. Advocates.