Thank you so much for doing this! You could blaze the way for women all over the country.

Feel free to post me directly (off-blog). And thanks for writing this here.

Surprisingly, I’m the first person to call in with this issue. Is that a good or a bad thing?

I also called corporate one last time, to file a request for information about their policy on nursing mothers. When they call back, I’m going to inform them (assuming they don’t know [whatever]) about the FLSA ammendment, tell my story, and go from there. If all goes well, perhaps we’ll get some good policy on this.

If it doesn’t, I file the complaint, and see what happens.
More to come.

Thanks so much for sharing your story. You should not be forced to pump either in a bathroom or in front of customers. It is *private* space you have been promised.

I’ll post something with what the DOL has to say once I do.

In the weeks before my return to work (as I was also trying to make a transfer to another store), I was in contact with the manager trying to iron out paperwork details so everything would run smoothly. Eventually, we came around to the fact that I’m breastfeeding my baby, so I’ll need a place to pump while I’m there, and I got the standard reply, “I’m sure we can figure something out”, and was told that there’s always the bathroom.

My availability to work was also at issue. I told the manager in the beginning that my availability is open, which is true, but after thinking about it, I should be more careful as not to be needed on the floor at a time when I needed to pump. When I brought this up, I was told that I needed to give a solid availability, because of problems in the past with transfer employees.

At that I decided to call the corporate hotline to see if they had any guidance in this situation. It seemed to me that if there are all these policies governing even the tiniest detail of my work on the clock, there should be SOMETHING for this. They took down all the information about me and my case, and got back to me in a few days. I told them about the situation, that I didn’t want to be in the bathroom pumping, and let them know that I was even willing to transfer to a different store in the area, perhaps one that already had a setup for someone else who needed to express milk. After some hemming and hawing, even going so far as to ask me what kind of pump I had to see if maybe I could go to my car with some visors, they directed me to the district manager in the area.

I ended up at the store I had picked up a couple of shifts for before I left on my maternity leave, and she offered to let me pump behind the managers desk with a shawl, since it was still out in the open to coworkers. They’re pretty nice about the whole thing, and no one makes a fuss, but it still sucks because I have to cover up, and really I need to see what I’m doing to operate the pump correctly. I’m also still having issues with breaks, because although the general manager knows what the deal is, I don’t get the impression that any of the shift managers do, so I’ve been scheduled for six hours, with only the standard two ten minute breaks, even though it takes me at least 15 – 20 minutes to express milk. And getting these shifts to do anything that doesn’t follow the general policy to the letter is like pulling teeth. Even my first shift back, which was also a six hour shift that I was covering for someone else, I felt like I had to pull teeth. In the end, I did get a lunch break, but I think it was only because the person I was covering for hadn’t taken it before they left.

This whole experience has left me wondering if they genuinely don’t know the law, or are ignoring it willfully, playing upon my ignorance. Of course, it is my responsibility to know the law, but it doesn’t seem fair that they make recommendations at the corporate level that totally go against it. And what about the rest of the women returning from maternity leave? What happened to them?

Perhaps what’s most upsetting about this whole thing is that I feel like I’m in a position where I can’t talk to anyone about it. I’m even nervous posting this comment.
I don’t even feel comfortable using my real name.

There is nothing in the fact sheet or the link to which the fact sheet refers you for “more information” that illuminates any of the critical questions posed about remedies and enforcement in Jake’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm About the New Federal Workplace Pumping Law.”

There are significant legal questions about how to enforce this law against non-compliant employers, whether a women has to suffer a termination for insisting to pump in order to bring suit for reinstatement? What is the plan at DOL for enforcement? Is this fact sheet simply a sop to satisfy people who, undoubtedly as a result of commentary like Jake’s, were raising questions with their local Congressperson. Fact sheets are fine, but they are not law, regulation, or even guidance.

Jake was right about this statute when it was first publicized, because over the years she has developed not only a remarkable expertise in state laws regarding breastfeeding and workplace pumping, but also because she has a keen and skeptical approach to any law or bill that appears to be too good to be true. The language of this bill was designed to fool people. It is any lawyer’s most valuable skill in interpreting legislation to be able to identify what is worthless in new legislation.

At the end of “To Kill a Mockingbird” the nice lady, Maudy, across the street from Atticus Finch’s house tells Jem and Scout that their father is one of those people who do our unpleasant tasks for us? (If you don’t know the movie, go rent it now and watch it with the kids!) And, you know the saying that there are two things you don’t want to watch being made, sausage and legislation? Well, Jake is one of those people we rely upon to break the shrinkwrap and dissect the legislative sausage for us. It is always disgusting, and frequently illuminating. I am a practicing litigation attorney, and rely on other lawyers to do this for me. It’s that onerous!

This not a half full situation, as someone said in a prior post. For Moms who are covered by the statute,the federal glass currently is bone dry. Seek state remedies, and don’t let any state lawmaker tell you that there is a federal law that covers the issue. The federal law is crap. And, if you read Jake’s posts, the fact sheet and the one page of law that we are talking about, the conclusion that it is crap is obvious.

Whether the DOL finds a Constitutional way to put teeth in it, remains to be seen, but the fact sheet does not provide a basis for feeling optimistic about future vigorous enforcement, if such a thing is even permissible under this provision of the FSLA at all.