Federal Court rules in favor of breastfeeding cop who sued City of Tuscaloosa

[Adelaide]

People do not understand how this all works

Officer Hicks is out on Patrol, today there is one officer per vehicle and officers in her zone are responsible to respond and back up other officers.

I dont remember how many times a day a baby needs to be fed, but she has to come off road be replaced, get in her personal car, drive to where the baby is breast feed come back, the officer replacing her is called back in and she goes back on the road, Repeat.

Even if they took her off patrol duty and put her inside, you cant bring your baby to the precinct all day, this is a huge imposition and costly for the dept. In smaller depts where she works there are few desk jobs, possibly one or two, they may very well have to create a phanthom position for her to get paid to breast feed her baby, doesnt seem quite fair for everyone else, and wouldnt it be grand if you had 2 or 3 breast feeding mothers.

If a police officer decides to breast feed she should be put on unpaid leave after her paid maternity leave expires then return to work when breast feeding is over, thats the way it was always handled, breast feeding isnt new.

You can pump at work and store the milk. You do not go all the way home to breastfeed your child. It's not only that women want to feed their newborns breast milk, but that biologically they are producing it and need to pump in order to prevent leaks, some infections, inflammation, and really, really sore breasts.

Edit: Pumping is actually something some moms like to do. A few friends of mine would "pump and dump" if they decided they wanted to have a glass of wine, for example. You can also see differences in milk quality. You can also pump a lot for a short period and store/freeze some milk for a later time when you might be away from the child or whatever.

[Perianne]

Breastfeeding is a great thing. It's the way God intended it.

[Safety]

Stephanie Hicks was an officer with the Tuscaloosa Police Department before resigning after she said her work environment turned hostile when she returned from maternity leave. A jury agreed in 2016, and an appellate court upheld the decision in 2017.

Federal judges ruled Thursday that a Tuscaloosa police officer's rights as a breastfeeding mother were protected by anti-discrimination laws.

In 2013, former Tuscaloosa Police Officer Stephanie Hicks sued the Tuscaloosa Police Department after she said the department created a hostile work environment, demoted her and essentially forced her to quit.

Last year a federal jury agreed, awarding her $374,000 in damages after finding the department violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

The city appealed, and this week the 11th Circuit Court upheld the jury's verdict. A three-judge panel found "sufficient evidence of discrimination" by the Tuscaloosa PD against Hicks.

The court also affirmed that breastfeeding is a medical condition related to pregnancy that is protected under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/201...n_favor_o.html

In her last performance review before she went on leave, Hicks’ supervisor wrote that she “exceeded expectations.”

Then the baby came. For 12 weeks, Hicks was home with her little boy. The baby’s collar bone broke during delivery and he needed extra-tender care. He had colic and was constantly crying. She was either breastfeeding him or expressing more milk, using an electric pump, pretty much around the clock.

At no point did she back away from her plan to return to work, she said, nor did she intend to stop breastfeeding once she was back on the job.

“That was never the plan,” Hicks, 38, told HuffPost recently. Like many other working mothers, Hicks figured she’d bring her pump to work and take two breaks during her 8 a.m.-4 p.m. shift to express milk. Friends of hers, including at least one in another division of the Tuscaloosa Police Department, had done much the same.

But from the moment she returned to work, nothing went as planned. Hicks said her supervisors treated her differently, refusing to accommodate her need for pumping breaks, among other problems.
“I was blindsided,” Hicks said.

Less than two weeks after she came back, Hicks quit her job. She felt like she had no choice. Her supervisors had essentially given her an ultimatum: Give up breastfeeding or quit the police force.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/b...b0edff971bb8c1
It's strange. She was apparently an exceptional officer, great performance reviews and yet because she had the nerve to get pregnant, she became persona non grata. I'm happy that the Courts found in her favor, but she lost a career that she enjoyed. What's wrong with people?

The law worked in the way it was designed to, good job.

[Cletus]

Yeah, it inconvenienced the department and resulted in less efficient policing for the community.

[Nicole]

She should have resigned when she got pregnant instead of becoming a burden on her department.

Does that go for all jobs that women hold?

[Cletus]

Does that go for all jobs that women hold?

It depends on the burden she places on her employer. If the employer is fine with her taking x amount of time off and not replacing her and understanding that a newborn is going to have certain requirements that will affect work performance, that is great.

What is not great is an employer being forced by law to accept that.

[Common]

You can pump at work and store the milk. You do not go all the way home to breastfeed your child. It's not only that women want to feed their newborns breast milk, but that biologically they are producing it and need to pump in order to prevent leaks, some infections, inflammation, and really, really sore breasts.

Edit: Pumping is actually something some moms like to do. A few friends of mine would "pump and dump" if they decided they wanted to have a glass of wine, for example. You can also see differences in milk quality. You can also pump a lot for a short period and store/freeze some milk for a later time when you might be away from the child or whatever.

The issue isnt pumping or breast feeding the issue is she has to go home to feed the baby or wherever the baby is.

[Common]

Does that go for all jobs that women hold?

Not nearly as much as first responder public service jobs

[Common]

The law worked in the way it was designed to, good job.

No law works 100% as intended, just like the ADA law we discussed that have small business being sued be nefarious individuals making a living off the law.

First responder public servants have always had to be under a different set of rules. Better than her disrupting the entire dept, it would be better to extend her maternity leave till the baby is on solid food, most public service jobs have 1 yr maternity leave as it is.

[Adelaide]

The issue isnt pumping or breast feeding the issue is she has to go home to feed the baby or wherever the baby is.

Again, she would not go home to breastfeed the child. She would pump and store the breast milk.