Isotoner breastfeeding discrimination suit

[Anonymous]

Not sure how many of you have heard about this case of blatant breastfeeding discrimination, so I thought I'd pass it along:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/08/28/fired_for_pumping/print.html
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/PIO/oralArguments/09/0311/0311.asp

Here is the contact information for Totes/Isotoner in case you want to call or send an email:
http://www.totes-isotoner.com/category/customer+service/contact+us.do

I really hope the Breastfeeding Promotion Act in Congress gets passed soon!


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[Anonymous]

Those fucking bastards! Thanks for posting. I too hope the act gets out of committee and passed. The discrimination has GOT TO STOP. (Can you tell I'm angry?) How on Earth can anyone claim that lactation is NOT related to childbirth (or in some cases adoption when a woman undergoes hormone treatment to lactate.). I mean SERIOUSLY...it is ABSOLUTELY gender discrimination and absolutely related to pregnancy. The last time I checked fathers of newborns do NOT have to endure the humiliation of ASKING an employer for a pumping space that is clean and private.
I will never buy their products. I'd like to give that woman money for her case fees.

[Anonymous]

Great, now I'm craving cupcakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great, now I'm craving cupcakes.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

LOL, yeah...a group of moms could show up at the cupcake shop wearing isotoner gloves and whip out boobs to feed babies. that would be awesome!

but seriously, shame on that company!

call your representative and ask for movement on the breastfeeding protection act!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting the link, this is appalling. I sent an email to the company.

[Anonymous]

By this reasoning Isotoner should be firing anyone who takes regular smoke breaks. Smokers always get away with extra breaks!

[Anonymous]

Hey, 00:18...I also sent an email to the company complaining and got a response back from (wait for it) a Vicki Fightmaster. Not kidding.

[Anonymous]

At least you got a reply - I sent an email and haven't gotten any response!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those fucking bastards! Thanks for posting. I too hope the act gets out of committee and passed. The discrimination has GOT TO STOP. (Can you tell I'm angry?) How on Earth can anyone claim that lactation is NOT related to childbirth (or in some cases adoption when a woman undergoes hormone treatment to lactate.). I mean SERIOUSLY...it is ABSOLUTELY gender discrimination and absolutely related to pregnancy. The last time I checked fathers of newborns do NOT have to endure the humiliation of ASKING an employer for a pumping space that is clean and private.
I will never buy their products. I'd like to give that woman money for her case fees.

Hee Hee. You're funny! And VERY angry and insane. Anything else going wrong in your life by the way? Anyhow, thanks for the laugh, sweetie.

[Anonymous]

I emailed and received the below response from the company (via Vickie Figthmaster). While it appears that the lawsuit was won on an argument related to the specifics of how a particualr law is construed, the company asserts that it accommodates breastfeeding moms who need to pump while at work. here is the text of the email:

Thank you for your note and concerns regarding the Ohio Supreme Court
Ruling regarding the termination of a temporary employee.

As a matter of policy, totes»ISOTONER is not able to provide specific
information surrounding the employment circumstances of any employee.
What we can share is that based on the circumstances involved with this
specific temporary employee, the totes»ISOTONER employment decision has
been supported by the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, the Ohio
Court of Appeals for the 12th District and the Ohio Supreme Court. And
while we cannot specifically address the Ohio Supreme Court Ruling, we
can share several of our workplace practices:

· totes»ISOTONER absolutely supports employees, whether full-time,
part-time, or temporary, who are also nursing mothers.

· totes»ISOTONER does provide time for nursing mothers to pump
their breast milk and many employees have taken advantage of this
accommodation. In the case presented to the Supreme Court, we did
provide this accommodation.

· totes»ISOTONER is a company committed to supporting our
employees. Because females account for approximately 70% of our work
force, we are very attuned to and supportive of the needs of working
mothers.

Again, thank you for your note and expressing your views on this issue.
We take great pride in our culture of being a family oriented company,
and can only indicate there were other factors involved in this
particular situation which led to the company’s decision in this case.
We appreciate your having been a customer in the past and hope you will
reconsider your decision in this regard going forward.

Sincerely,

Vickie Fightmaster
Human Resources Manager
totes»ISOTONER

[Anonymous]

Maybe before a tirade you should review the case. Isotoner has a 70% female work force and has allowed lactation / pumping for some time. This woman appears to have been fired for a repetitive pattern of unauthorized breaks and had apparently been reprimanded on more than one occasion. If you stop and breathe maybe you will begin to wonder .. why on earth have many many Isotoner working mothers come and gone before with no problems encountered while lactating .. however now with this one temporary employee only .. it is an issue. Do the math .. many women .. no problem; one woman .. one problem. No other employees have spoken up. No others have had this issue with the company. If you want to yell .. find fault NOT with the ruling in favor of Isotoner for this particular case .. but with the idea that the courts claim lactation is not protected under the PDA (pregnancy discrimination act). Maybe you could use your anger more wisely.

[Anonymous]

I think there was already a thread on this here recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe before a tirade you should review the case. Isotoner has a 70% female work force and has allowed lactation / pumping for some time. This woman appears to have been fired for a repetitive pattern of unauthorized breaks and had apparently been reprimanded on more than one occasion. If you stop and breathe maybe you will begin to wonder .. why on earth have many many Isotoner working mothers come and gone before with no problems encountered while lactating .. however now with this one temporary employee only .. it is an issue. Do the math .. many women .. no problem; one woman .. one problem. No other employees have spoken up. No others have had this issue with the company. If you want to yell .. find fault NOT with the ruling in favor of Isotoner for this particular case .. but with the idea that the courts claim lactation is not protected under the PDA (pregnancy discrimination act). Maybe you could use your anger more wisely.

This absolutely is more impetus for the Breastfeeding Protection Act which is languishing in congress, but that doesn't mean that people don't have the right to be upset about the treatment of the woman in this case. I read the opinions of the justices on this case (http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/2009/2009-ohio-4231.pdf) as well as the oral argument preview for the case (http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/PIO/oralArguments/09/0311/0311.asp) and didn't find any evidence that her actions were deserving of the treatment she received. She had ASKED for accommodations before starting the job and was told she could pump in the RESTROOM during her lunch break at 11 a.m. - her shift started at 6 a.m. so this is way too long to go without pumping. She asked for an extra 5 MINUTES during her 8 a.m. break so she could pump and was refused and then fired. This is all in the public record.
Quite honestly, the fact that they wanted her to pump in the restroom shows me that whether they "allow" pumping or not, they are not a family/breast feeding friendly employer.