Lactation Policy

The University of Kansas strives to create a workplace that is both productive and supportive of its faculty, staff and student employees in their familial roles. The University recognizes the benefits of workplace support for employees electing to breastfeed.

Departments should make reasonable efforts to provide accommodations to lactating employees. These accommodations include:

• Access to a clean and private space, shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, to express milk for any staff or faculty member or student employee who is breastfeeding a child for up to 3 years after the birth of a child. If a department is not able to provide a nursing employee with a space to express breast milk then the following should be allowed:
• Adequate time to travel to another building where a lactation station is located. A staff or faculty member or student employee is not to be penalized for extra travel time needed to get to the lactation station. Lactation stations are provided around campus in locations specified on this webpage.
• With positions that require travel around campus, the employee can make individual arrangements with departments and facilities to access a lactation station or other room for expressing breast milk.

An ideal location would be clean, maintain an appropriate temperature and ventilation, and be located near the work station with locks for privacy and an electrical outlet. Allowing access to a refrigerator, where available, to securely store expressed breast milk is helpful. Under no circumstances will a department offer, require, or allow a restroom (bathroom) as an option for expressing breast milk.

Staff, faculty or student employees (regardless of assigned work location) should be allowed adequate use of break time, leave time, meal time, and/or a flexible work schedule to utilize a lactation station, to express milk, and to clean equipment after pumping. Nursing employees should contact their supervisors to request work schedule variations in advance. Decisions about accommodations should be made on a case-by-case basis with consideration of scheduling options available to the employee that allow University business needs to be accomplished. For guidance concerning infants in the workplace for nursing, please refer to University’s policy on Children in the Workplace.