Serving clients in Manhattan Beach, California, Kalley Aman is a labor and employment law attorney with Buchalter, APC, who is a member with the firm's Labor & Employment and Litigation practice groups. Kalley Aman maintains a close watch on new laws in her area of practice, including those which were passed by the legislature and signed by the governor last year and went into effect on January 1, 2020.

Among these is SB 142, which amends three Labor Codes, while adding a new Labor Code section, and expands AB 1976’s requirements, which were passed in 2018. The law requires employers to provide a “lactation room or other location” for the expression of breast milk that is close to the work area and is not a bathroom.

Specific requirements include the space being free from intrusion and shielded from view, as well as being clean, safe, and containing no hazardous or toxic materials. The lactation room must also have electricity, a seat, and a surface on which personal items such as breast pump can be placed.

There are several other provisions in SB 142, including one that employees are provided with a “reasonable amount of break time,” concurrent with other break time, for them to express breast milk. The lactation accommodation policy must be published publicly in the employee handbook and provided to all workers who ask for it.