Can I legally breastfeed my baby in public in New York?
Yes, Absolutely. This right is guaranteed under the Civil Rights Law, § 79-e, and allows a mother to breastfeed in any location, public or private, where she is otherwise allowed to be.
This is a specific exemption for breastfeeding from the criminal indecent exposure laws, but this has also been changed by court decisions, see more below.
Can I Legally Breastfeed My Baby at Work?
Since breastfeeding is allowed anywhere, you have a right to do it at work. Even though you have the legal right to breastfeed in public, it’s probably a not good idea to do it in front of your co-workers. Even though you are allowed to do this in public, Employers certainly have the right to place reasonable restrictions on the activity. If the employer has a policy that breastfeeding is allowed but has to be done outside the presence of the other workers, and a place where it could be done privately is provided, that will probably be upheld as reasonable by the courts, but that case has not come up yet, so we don’t know for sure.
Can I Express Milk at Work?
Yes – Your Employer has to give you unpaid break time, or allow you to use your paid break time, every day to express breast milk, and generally must provide a place for you do this in private. Labor Law § 206-c.
On a Humorous Note:
Alyssa Milano, an activist on the breastfeeding issue, describes not being allowed to take her breast milk pump through security at Heathrow Airport. When she was told that only mothers who had with babies with them could bring a breast pump on the plane, she asked, “If the baby was with me, why would I need the pump?
Can Any Woman Show Her Breasts in Public for Any Reason in New York?
The answer, for now, is Yes, as long as it’s “noncommercial”. This is because in 1986, a group of feminists took their tops off in a public park in Rochester and waited for the police to arrest them. They were charged with indecent exposure (Penal Law § 245.01), which prohibits women from exposing their breasts below the top of the areola. This law was held unconstitutional, People v. Santorelli, 80 N.Y.2d 875, (N.Y. 1992), on the theory that men are allowed to take their tops off, so women should be allowed to do the same, as long as it’s noncommercial. For the moment, women can show their breasts proudly anywhere in public in New York, but before flashing them at work, remember that even though you can’t be arrested for this, your boss can probably fire you for it. The current legal battle is over the women who paint their breasts, and are otherwise topless, walking around in Times Square, the Desnudas (which means naked women in Spanish). The mayor and the City Council want to stop this and argue that it is a commercial use, because they are photographed with tourists to solicit tips. However, the New York courts have also held that there is a First Amendment right protecting panhandling within certain limits, People v. Barton, 8 N.Y.3d 70, (N.Y. 2006) This same indecent exposure law the feminists challenged in the case described above is still on the books, but now it has specific exceptions for breastfeeding, entertaining or performing. When this goes to court, they will argue that they are street performers and/or panhandlers, and we will have to wait and see what happens. Who ever said constitutional law was boring?