Breastfeeding Mom Loses Discrimination Case

[econmarie]

www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/02/04/angela_ames_sex_discrimination_case_breast_feeding_mom_loses_because_men.html

Thoughts? Mine is BS...men may have the equipment to lactate, but it almost never happens. I also hate how they blamed her for not fighting enough. I'm sure she just didn't know her rights, and they put her in a position where she was in pain and without options. 

Edit to fix link.

[laurelita42]

Yikes, this is scary stuff. I have so much respect for moms who pump at work- so many people think that they have a right to be up in your very personal business. Reading the whole 'just go home to your babies' things really frustrated me. Ugh.

(link wasn't clicking to the article for me- here's another link (click) to it if others have trouble)

[econmarie]

Thanks for letting me know about the link! I pumped at work for a year for DD. It took a bit to find a room, but it was super easy since I have a desk job and could take my laptop with me. Now I have my own office, but they will have to install a lock...shouldn't be difficult. I don't understand employers who think it is cheaper to hire and train someone new than to just let her pump.

[econmarie]

Feb 4, 2015 16:26:53 GMT -5 @aliam20 said:

Is this article from a real site? I'm not familiar with Slate, and I'm almost hoping this is not a true article. I pumped at work for 6 months and just can't image this actually happening!!

Yes, Slate is a real site. It is a news site.

[motownthrowdown]

That is sickening. Men can lactate too, my ass. Show me the last man who used that lactating room and I'll shut up. Things like this make me so angry. Make new mothers jump through hoops to be able to feed their babies, dont give them paid time off, don't pay them enough to cover child care, and generally shit in them at every turn. How should she have fought harder when her boss had basically fired her and it seems that hr wasnt doing anything?

[flippinchica]

That is some bullshit right there.

[runningmommy519]

Yeah my friend post this on her newsfeed last night. My respond was, "I'm making DH lactate for the next one"

[telos]

Um, am I missing something? SCOTUS denied cert (i.e., elected not to review the case) on January 12, 2015 (click here). So, yes, the Eight Circuit's decision is final, but SCOTUS hasn't really "upheld" the federal appeals court ruling as the article misleadingly states. SCOTUS denies some 98% of cert petitions each term, so that's not really a "major step," either. The eighth circuit's decision, on the other hand, does raise some eyebrows. I know at least one other federal appellate court (the fifth circuit, some time ago) classified the choice to breastfeed as a "fundamental right" under the Fourteenth Amendment--meaning, no undue state interference, just like the existing right to an abortion--but sex discrimination (by a private employer) is an entirely different issue, so we'll see. Maybe more thoughts later.

[telos]

OK, so here's a link to the text of the eighth circuit's decision: caselaw.findlaw.com/us-8th-circuit/1660103.html

I didn't see anything about "men can lactate, too" -- maybe that came up somewhere in the briefing/arguments, but didn't make its way into the decision. One thing's clear: that woman went through hell. I know what it's like to be engorged at work, and her bosses acted like jerks. It's sad that she was treated in this way.