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Read. Follow. Verify.Connecticut bill expands workplace lactation breaks, includes security screenings as paid hours, and forms heat safety task force
Last action · April 2, 2026: File Number 351Sponsors: Martin Looney and 3 others
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What This Bill Proposed
Employers must provide employees with reasonable break time to express breast milk or breastfeed on site whenever the need arises, starting October 1, 2026. The legislation also explicitly includes mandatory employer-required security screenings in the legal definition of paid '' and establishes a task force to study workplace heat safety standards.
Employees gain the right to take lactation breaks outside of scheduled meal periods and receive legal guarantees that time spent on mandatory security checks counts as paid work time. Employers must accommodate nursing employees and adhere to new state-level review of heat safety practices.
- The Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled that employees must be compensated for time spent in mandatory security screenings on their employer's premises. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Employers
Employers must accommodate unscheduled lactation breaks, include mandatory security screening time as paid hours, and potentially adjust workplace policies.
Nursing employees
Nursing employees gain the right to take paid or unpaid break time to express milk whenever needed, supported by private accommodation requirements.
Workers subject to security screenings
Employees required to undergo employer security screenings have that time legally classified as paid hours worked.
Key Facts
- Employers of any size must provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk or breastfeed on site each time the employee has the need.
- Employers must make reasonable efforts to provide a private, non-toilet room near the work area equipped with a refrigerator or cold storage device and electrical outlet.
- Employers are prohibited from discriminating against, disciplining, or taking adverse employment action against any employee exercising lactation rights.
- The definition of 'hours worked' under state statute is expanded to include time an employee spends in security screenings required by an employer.
Show all 8 facts
- A workplace heat safety task force is established to examine best practices for preventing heat illness and review laws from other states.
- The heat safety task force must submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Labor and Public Employees Committee by January 1, 2027, and terminate thereafter.
- Initial appointments to the heat safety task force must be made within 30 days of the section's passage, and its first meeting must occur within 60 days.
- The Department of Labor may assess a civil penalty of $300 for violations of workplace breastfeeding regulations.
Frequently Asked Questions
When can employees take lactation breaks under the bill?
Are security screenings considered paid working time?
What is the purpose of the newly established task force?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · on the Senate floor.
Procedural history
9 actions- Apr 2, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyFile Number 351
- Apr 2, 2026SenateSenate Calendar Number 237
- Apr 2, 2026SenateFavorable Report, Tabled for the Calendar, Senate
- Apr 2, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyReported Out of Legislative Commissioners' Office
- Mar 27, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyReferred to Office of Legislative Research and Office of Fiscal Analysis 04/01/26 5:00 PM
- Mar 18, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyFiled with Legislative Commissioners' Office
Show 3 earlier actions
- Mar 17, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyJoint Favorable
- Feb 27, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyPublic Hearing 03/03
- Feb 26, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyCommitteeReferred to Joint Committee on Labor and Public Employees
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Alignment with Federal Standards
The bill updates state breastfeeding provisions to align with broader federal protections requiring flexible break times for nursing employees.
Connected Entities
Sources
cga.ct.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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