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Need to breastfeed your newborn? Take an hour off and get paid for it.
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Posted on Feb 14 2001
Remember what commercials on milk always say at the end of the advertisement — Breastmilk is still best for babies? Northern Marianas legislators have apparently strictly kept that in mind.
Members of the House of Representatives now want at least an hour each working day accorded to mothers employed by the government to come home and give their child what the TV and radio commercials say as “still the best milk.”
The one-hour excuse from work of mothers working for the Commonwealth government to breastfeed their child comes with an added value — they get paid for it.
House Bill 12-068 finally got the nod of the lower house after intensive study conducted on the needs of mothers and their newborn babies.
The bill also hopes to prevent the increasing number of absences of working mothers who repeatedly leave work early to attend to the needs of their growing babies.
Based on the committee report, authorizing government employees (mothers) who have newborn children one hour of administrative leave for breast feeding purposes will allow bonding time between the mother and baby for a year.
By approving the bill, legislators believe that mothers will be encouraged to breast-feed their newborns who need proper nurturing and will ensure good health of the baby.
Introduced by Rep. Brigida Dlg. Ichihara, the Breast feeding Act of 2000 grants a working mother one hour per working day of administrative leave to tend for her baby for the duration of one year and to promote the wellness of the newborn.
The house bill however stipulated that the process should not exceed more than one year from the date of the child’s birth and the administrative leaves granted to government workers will be automatically lifted.
Ms. Ichihara urged all department heads to heed the allowances and provisions under the bill but to be strictly responsible for the enforcement and compliance of the Breast-feeding Act.
