fired for pumping breast milk
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From: the southwest
fired for pumping breast milk
Fired for Pumping?
Posted Friday, March 06, 2009 2:53 PM | By Rachael Larimore
Here's an unfortunate story from my neck of the woods: Next week, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear the case of a woman who says she was fired for taking extra restroom breaks to pump breast milk.
The company—Totes/Isotoner—isn't commenting, so we only have the side of LaNisa Allen, who
said she began taking the extra breaks at 10 a.m. after she found her 10-minute scheduled break at 8 a.m. was too short and she couldn't stand to wait until her 11 a.m. lunch break.
About two weeks after she started taking the breaks, an agency supervisor came into the restroom and told Allen she was breaking workplace rules. She was fired by a Totes supervisor that afternoon.
The company prevailed in both the trial and the original appeal, arguing that "breastfeeding doesn't legally constitute an illness or medical condition" that it needs to accommodate.
Now, as a conservative, I usually support the right of businesses to establish their own workplace policies. But I don't defend a company's dumb policies, and that's what this seems to be. Do they allow employees to take smoking breaks? If so, how do you justify allowing smoke breaks but not give a woman a few extra minutes to pump? Do you have to clock-in/clock-out to use the restroom? (Yes, I've heard of places that are so draconian.) Also, I suspect that the lawyers making the arguments that breast-feeding doesn't constitute a medical condition are either men or maybe women who've never arrived at work with a breast pump in tow only to realize that part of the device is sitting at home on the kitchen counter. I can assure you it's painful.
On the other hand, can working mothers help their own cause by being proactive with their employers, explaining upfront what their needs are and how easy it would be to accommodate them? Offer some flexibility? (As in, "I can be here 15 minutes early/stay 15 minutes late, but I really need this block of time in the middle of the day.)
To me, it behooves both the company and the employee if the company has a clear policy on what it can accommodate, and if the employee is vocal and upfront about her needs. What do others think?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxf...r-pumping.aspx
Posted Friday, March 06, 2009 2:53 PM | By Rachael Larimore
Here's an unfortunate story from my neck of the woods: Next week, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear the case of a woman who says she was fired for taking extra restroom breaks to pump breast milk.
The company—Totes/Isotoner—isn't commenting, so we only have the side of LaNisa Allen, who
said she began taking the extra breaks at 10 a.m. after she found her 10-minute scheduled break at 8 a.m. was too short and she couldn't stand to wait until her 11 a.m. lunch break.
About two weeks after she started taking the breaks, an agency supervisor came into the restroom and told Allen she was breaking workplace rules. She was fired by a Totes supervisor that afternoon.
The company prevailed in both the trial and the original appeal, arguing that "breastfeeding doesn't legally constitute an illness or medical condition" that it needs to accommodate.
Now, as a conservative, I usually support the right of businesses to establish their own workplace policies. But I don't defend a company's dumb policies, and that's what this seems to be. Do they allow employees to take smoking breaks? If so, how do you justify allowing smoke breaks but not give a woman a few extra minutes to pump? Do you have to clock-in/clock-out to use the restroom? (Yes, I've heard of places that are so draconian.) Also, I suspect that the lawyers making the arguments that breast-feeding doesn't constitute a medical condition are either men or maybe women who've never arrived at work with a breast pump in tow only to realize that part of the device is sitting at home on the kitchen counter. I can assure you it's painful.
On the other hand, can working mothers help their own cause by being proactive with their employers, explaining upfront what their needs are and how easy it would be to accommodate them? Offer some flexibility? (As in, "I can be here 15 minutes early/stay 15 minutes late, but I really need this block of time in the middle of the day.)
To me, it behooves both the company and the employee if the company has a clear policy on what it can accommodate, and if the employee is vocal and upfront about her needs. What do others think?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxf...r-pumping.aspx
h: :noracism: