breastfeeding not sexist since men can lactate

[doggie]

this is crazy and makes me worried about the gay marriage ruling.

Supreme Court lets stand ruling that firing woman for breastfeeding not sexist since men can lactate

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/supr ... n-lactate/

The Supreme Court has declined to overturn a lower court’s ruling that held a breastfeeding mother was not discriminated against and could not sue her employer. The woman’s suit was dismissed by a trial court, in part, because the court said firing a woman for breastfeeding wasn’t sexist because men could lactate, too.

The ACLU’s Galen Sherwin wrote Monday that former Nationwide Insurance Company employee Angela Ames sued her the company after she returned from maternity leave to find she was unable to pump breast milk for her baby during the day.

When Ames asked her supervisor for accommodations that would enable her to express milk and store it for her child, the supervisor reportedly responded that Ames should “go home and be with your babies†instead. That supervisor allegedly went on to dictate a letter of resignation to Ames that day, effectively forcing her to resign.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Ames’ petition for a review of her case’s dismissal. The district court’s decision — which the Eight Circuit Court upheld — said that Nationwide’s treatment of Ames could not have been sexist because under certain circumstances, some men can lactate, too.

“The court’s reasoning in this case echoes old Supreme Court pronouncements that discriminating against pregnant women at work isn’t sex discrimination because both men and women can be non-pregnant,†Sherwin wrote. “Congress long ago rejected this ridiculous reasoning when it passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. It’s disheartening to see it resurface again.â€

The Court also found that the dismissive statement that Ames should “go home and be with (her) babies†was in fact gender neutral and not directed at Ames because she was a new mother.

[Escapefromfundiedom]

What the hell did I just read?!!!

[doggie]

I had the same reaction

[Four is Enough]

agreed.

ETA: However, galactorrhea in men is associated with something WRONG... would you use a male's breast milk? Geez.

from the Mayo clinic

[August]

Men can induce lactation, but I would very much doubt that one has ever done so so successfully that they became their child's only source of food, which is why mothers need to pump, to feed the baby.

[PennySycamore]

I'm not a lawyer but...

I can well understand the initial outage, but this case is probably more nuanced than it first appears.

As I understand things, the Supreme Court didn't rule that discrimination against breastfeeding mothers wasn't sexist, but instead let stand a lower court ruling that there was no sex discrimination in the case of the Nationwide Insurance worker who lost her job postpartum since men could lactate, too. The Court made no decision on the case at all and declined to hear an appeal.

Secondly, it is also my understanding that the woman would have had more of a case if she'd been fired instead of resigning even if the resignation was forced. The mom unfortunately had a colossal asshole for a boss. Nationwide should terminate his employment ASAP and let it be known that they don't put up with this assholery.

Thirdly, there has been an absence of chat about this on the lactation related lists I'm on and I'm on several.

ETA: As an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, if your job fits under its provisions, then a breastfeeding mother must be provided with an adequate place to pump -adequate privacy, adequate outlets and NOT in a bathroom.

[polecat]

I was telling my husband about this last night. His response: "If I'd tried to breastfeed the kids, they'd have all had terrible hairballs."

Also, it's Nationwide. I think they showed exactly what kind of dirtwaffles they are during the Super Bowl.

[Georgiana]

I'm not a lawyer but...

I can well understand the initial outage, but this case is probably more nuanced than it first appears.

As I understand things, the Supreme Court didn't rule that discrimination against breastfeeding mothers wasn't sexist, but instead let stand a lower court ruling that there was no sex discrimination in the case of the Nationwide Insurance worker who lost her job postpartum since men could lactate, too. The Court made no decision on the case at all and declined to hear an appeal.

Secondly, it is also my understanding that the woman would have had more of a case if she'd been fired instead of resigning even if the resignation was forced. The mom unfortunately had a colossal asshole for a boss. Nationwide should terminate his employment ASAP and let it be known that they don't put up with this assholery.

Thirdly, there has been an absence of chat about this on the lactation related lists I'm on and I'm on several.

ETA: As an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, if your job fits under its provisions, then a breastfeeding mother must be provided with an adequate place to pump -adequate privacy, adequate outlets and NOT in a bathroom.

To add to this: the Supreme Court receives about 7,000 petitions per year and only accepts about 100 to even hear brief oral arguments on. The last couple years they have decided between 70-90 cases. The OVERWHELMING number of cases are not heard by the Supreme Court, so the selection threshold is incredibly high.

Secondly, a lower court actually dismissed the case. As in, they didn't even give a ruling in favor of either side. They said the case was not strong enough.

I wouldn't take this as the Supreme Court's view on breastfeeding rights in the workplace. Rather, they probably agreed that THIS PARTICULAR CASE was not strong enough and did deserve dismissal. Or at least didn't warrant taking up a coveted spot in the cert pool.

[Escapefromfundiedom]

I'm not a lawyer but...

I can well understand the initial outage, but this case is probably more nuanced than it first appears.

As I understand things, the Supreme Court didn't rule that discrimination against breastfeeding mothers wasn't sexist, but instead let stand a lower court ruling that there was no sex discrimination in the case of the Nationwide Insurance worker who lost her job postpartum since men could lactate, too. The Court made no decision on the case at all and declined to hear an appeal.

Secondly, it is also my understanding that the woman would have had more of a case if she'd been fired instead of resigning even if the resignation was forced. The mom unfortunately had a colossal asshole for a boss. Nationwide should terminate his employment ASAP and let it be known that they don't put up with this assholery.

Thirdly, there has been an absence of chat about this on the lactation related lists I'm on and I'm on several.

ETA: As an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, if your job fits under its provisions, then a breastfeeding mother must be provided with an adequate place to pump -adequate privacy, adequate outlets and NOT in a bathroom.

I think you're right about her quitting vs being fired. It's too bad she allowed herself to be bullied into that resignation. :-(

Also from the Rawstory article it sounded a lot like her boss was a woman. Which makes this whole thing a lot worse.

The lack of post partum support and good maternity leave in the US is just...infuriating.

[eri]

I think you're right about her quitting vs being fired. It's too bad she allowed herself to be bullied into that resignation. :-(

Also from the Rawstory article it sounded a lot like her boss was a woman. Which makes this whole thing a lot worse.

The lack of post partum support and good maternity leave in the US is just...infuriating.

PTO and UTO in general need a legal reform. Call me a bleeding heart egalitarian, but I'm in the camp that each employee deserves the same amount of vacation time appropriate to seniority and position. There really is no just reason parents should get more average time-off than non-parents, so it really is an issue that affects every working person. European countries tend to allow for more time off (for everyone) and I don't recall them being worse-off as a direct result.

Workers need time off!