Just a month ago, Illinois expanded the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act to require employers to provide paid breaks for nursing mothers to express breast milk. The law now provides that a nursing mother who needs to express milk for her nursing infant child is entitled to a paid break “each time the employee has the need to express milk” for a period up to one year after the child’s birth. Although the break time may run concurrently with any other break time already provided, the employer is prohibited from reducing an employee’s compensation for time used for expressing milk or nursing a baby. DDIFO will be sponsoring a member meeting next month in Rosemont to cover this and a host of other issues of import to the franchise owner community, so watch for the announcement coming very soon.