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The Ohio Supreme Court ruled
today that the company Totes/Isotoner was within its rights to fire a
woman who was taking unscheduled breaks so she could pump her breasts.
The court says it was not discrimination, and that the reason she took
the breaks doesn't matter.
Kind of alarming verdict. I'm not
sure how a court can say lactation doesn't matter in this case. If she
weren't lactating, she wouldn't be taking the breaks (one can assume),
but yet it doesn't matter that that was the reason?
Apparently
the court was just trying to avoid the whole issue of whether lactation
is covered under the state's Pregnancy Discrimination Act. I highly
recommend reading this summary
of the case, posted on the blog FYI: Central Ohio Employment Law
Update. It does a good job of explaining the case and the decision in
it, and has this note:
In
any event, Isotoner now finds itself in the unenviable position of
manufacturing a product (i.e., fashion gloves, slippers and umbrellas)
to women who it will not permit to take a daily fifteen minute break to
pump breast milk for suckling infants. Ohio employers are left unsure
whether a future court decision will address this question or whether
the Ohio legislature will eventually take it up. For now, there is no law in Ohio giving women the right to take breaks to pump breast milk for their infants.
(emphasis mine)
Again,
something that seems so obvious to me -- allowing women time at work to
pump milk so they can feed their babies -- is going to have to be
legislated. Is there actually no common sense in the corporate world?
In the meantime, I'll be sure to avoid buying any of this company's
products, and I hope others do the same.
More reading on the case:
Ohio Employer's Law Blog
Columbus Dispatch
*Cross-posted from sparecandy.com.
