If Nursing Moms Don't Complain About Pumping at Work, No One Should

on February 10, 2012 at 2:31 PM

breastfeeding sign A Texas judge recently ruled that a woman wasn't discriminated against when she was fired from her job after asking her boss for a place to pump breast milk. Just before returning to work after her maternity leave, Donnicia Venters asked the VP of the debt collection agency she worked at if she could be provided with a private place to pump milk for her baby. Seems like a reasonable question. But the answer she got was the opposite of reasonable. The answer she got was, "Your job has been filled."

To add insult to injury, Judge Lynn Hughes just dismissed Venters' case, which was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying that she was not discriminated against because of pregnancy. See, as Hughes put it, "[Donnicia] gave birth on December 11, 2008. After that day, she was no longer pregnant, and her pregnancy-related conditions had ended."

Riiiight.

Technicalities, legalities, and other alities aside, I think we all know why Venters was given the boot: Because it's sooooo annoying for employers to have employees pumping breast milk on the job. Like, way more annoying than it is for the moms who have to do it.

When new moms return to work, a lot of things go through their heads. Yes, missing their children is among the nine billion thoughts up there, but so is doing a good job at their job. Moms who re-enter the workforce after having kids do so either because they need to for financial reasons or, plain and simple, they want to. In other words, they're in between a rock and a hard place: They want to prove themselves as being just as efficient workers as before, and they want to be the best moms they can be.

Of course, being a good mom means spending time with your baby. And, quite frankly, pumping cuts into that. Unless you have a job where your hours are a strict 9 to 5, odds are, you're going to be at the office a little bit later than you would have been because you took time out to pump. And that sucks. For the moms, not for the employers.

It's getting really tiresome hearing and reading about all these complaints/firings/whatever bosses, CEOs, and random, non-pumping workers are making. They're the people it affects the least. Pumping doesn't have anything to do with them. It's a hindrance for the moms who want to get home before their babies fall asleep. And you don't hear them complaining, do you?

Did you pump at work?

Image via acme/Flickr

About the author Nicole Fabian-Weber

has the world's most gorgeous dog. It's a fact.

EquestrianMom

on Feb 10, 2012 at 2:42 PM

Yeah, I did! And at that time I was one of TWO women at a manufacturing plant. Count em, TWO. Oh, the other woman was the owner, she was in twice a week at the office. I worked in the shop. I pumped in the bathroom for a while (yeah, it was icky) but then my manager spoke with the guys in the shop, and not only did they screen off an area on the shop floor, put a lounge chair in it, but they gave me permission to pump as needed, whenever it was needed. Oh, and not a one complained about the freezer having packets of boobmilk in there. I was very lucky!

Course, I took a fair amount of freindly ribbing from the guys, and yeah, they did tease through the screens while they were working and I was pumping, but hey, it was all polite and in good fun. I was again, very lucky. And the other thing I think created a male only, breast milk freindly environment? The fact that all of them were fathers, most single fathers, and understood trying to keep your job while raising a child!

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Kritika

I think there should have been reasonable accomodations on both sides. For example, I don't know how I'm going to breastfeed because there is literally nowhere I can pump in my small office - other than the bathroom. I don't want to do that, it's unsanitary. I wouldn't expect my job to build another office nor would I expect anyone to give up their office so all I can do is either not breast feed or do it in the bathroom. It sucks but we were given the burden of wombs, not men.

Robcat21

on Feb 10, 2012 at 2:50 PM

Something is not right with this article. Under FMLA, this woman should have had a job to return to after her maternity leave. And when she called to ask about pumping, she was told her job was filled? Call me crazy but I think this "firing" was less about asking to pump and more about something else....

PonyChaser

on Feb 10, 2012 at 3:11 PM

I found a link where a legal scholar shows the precedent that this judge used to come to his conclusion. It's interesting, if you can deal with the "legal speak" that is threaded throughout the post.

We also have to remember that this case happened in 2008/09, before the law was changed to require accomodations by businesses for pumping mothers.

Something to consider - the company maintains that they did not fire her, but that she quit, and the actual reason for her dismissal was "job abandonment". I suspect, like Robcat, that there is more to this story. However, it landed in court, so we discuss the court case...

In which case, the judge is an idiot for thinking that the production of milk is not related to pregnancy. He needs to have a nice long chat with his mother and do some review.

Nonmember comment from Shannon

on Feb 10, 2012 at 3:24 PM

People who complain about their employees pumping are short-sighted. Studies show that women who want to breastfeed/pump and are allowed to do so at work without a big hassle are generally happier and more productive because they feel like they are taking care of their baby the way they want to, and fewer sick days are usually taken to care for themselves or their kids. Plus, if you fire them, then you have to put in the expense of hiring and training a new employee. I pumped after my son was born, and though I sometimes got some grief from a (very ignorant) supervisor, I ignored her comments and kept a copy of the law, with the passages about pumping highlighted, on my desk in case she asked. She never did, no one cared that I did it, and it was still a pain in the butt because I had to come in early, leave late and eat at my desk so I could pump. I'd do it again though.

Nonmember comment from EmmaFromÉire

on Feb 10, 2012 at 5:01 PM

In the article ponychaser linked it quite clearly states “if a woman wants to stay home to take care of the child, no benefit must be paid because this is not a medically determined condition related to pregnancy.” This woman wasn't dismissed because she wanted to pump at work, it's because she took a very long time off work, and her job needed to be done, so they found someone to fill the position. It's how things work; a job can't be done if nobody is there to do it, and this woman took time off that was not maternity leave, the employer was within their right to replace her.

Nonmember comment from sage

on Feb 10, 2012 at 5:14 PM

Yes. I pumped at work with both of my babies.

JAFE

on Feb 10, 2012 at 5:38 PM

I also feel there's way more to the story here than what this woman is saying. My husband owns a family business and he'd do something like EquestrianMom said was done for her. Everything would be very good natured with LOTS of "milking" jokes. Anyone who is a good employee is almost always treated with this kind of kindness and respect. It's the other percent that ruin it for all.