Provide a breastfeeding room.

Provide a suitable area for new mothers to breastfeed or express milk in complete discretion and under optimal hygienic conditions. This area must meet the following minimum legal requirements:

• There must be a possibility for the employee to wash herself.
• There must be a comfortable chair and fridge.
• The area must be private – without windows for colleagues to observe what is going on - and it must be in a discreet location.
• The room must be large enough.
• The room must be adequately ventilated, lit and heated.

Arrange this area after consultation with the (internal) prevention advisor or occupational physician. If the first-aid room meets the above conditions, it may be used as a breastfeeding room.

Give your employee the opportunity to interrupt her work to breastfeed (if her baby is in the vicinity of the workplace) or to breast pump.

Your employee may take breastfeeding breaks for up to 9 months after the birth. If she works at least 7.5 hours per day, she is entitled to 2 breastfeeding breaks of half an hour each. If she works less than 7.5 hours but more than 4 hours a day, she is entitled to 1 half-hour break. These breaks do not cost you anything; the employee is reimbursed by the health insurance fund.

More information can be found on the website of the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance or at your External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work.

Add important dates for administrative matters in the agenda.

• The employee must inform you of her intention to take breastfeeding breaks no later than 2 months before taking her breaks, and preferably by registered mail or with signature for receipt by you.
• At the start of the breastfeeding breaks, your employee must provide you with proof of her breastfeeding by means of certificate. She can obtain this via Kind en Gezin (Flanders), ONE (Wallonia) or the family portal of the German-speaking community.
• For every month that your employee wishes to take breastfeeding breaks, she must send you this certificate from Kind en Gezin (Flanders), ONE (Wallonia) or the family portal of the German-speaking community.
• As the employer, you must provide the employee with a certificate stating the number of hours or half hours of breastfeeding breaks taken during the month, no later than on the date of payment of the salary (monthly). The employee completes this certificate and transfers it to her health insurance fund. This certificate serves as a request for payment of the benefits. Your employee can obtain the certificate from her health insurance fund or you can download it here: certificate health insurance fund (PDF format).

Review the risk analysis.

If the risk analysis reveals that the job involves risks for the breastfeeding period (up to a maximum of 5 months after the birth), you can, in the interests of your employee, choose to give her an alternative function, a transfer to another (risk-free) department, or a removal from work. The latter is known as lactation leave. In this case, your employee receives compensation from the health insurance fund; you pay nothing.

For this, contact the occupational physician. Your employee must apply for a certificate from her health insurance fund and you will have to complete part of it.

When your employee returns from lactation leave, give her the same or equivalent work as before.

Do not discriminate against employees because they are breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is a protected ground in the Gender Act of 10 May 2007. This means that employees cannot be treated unfavourably on account of their breastfeeding.

Discrimination in the workplace can take various forms, including different treatment, harassment, ineligibility for a promotion, not hiring someone or firing them because they breastfeed, etc. You can conduct prevention campaigns to raise awareness among your workers or to help them discern prejudices and discriminatory behaviour.

More information can be found in the brochure ‘Pregnant at work. Guide for Employees and Employers to Discrimination-Free Treatment’.