Most of us don’t realize that “Obamacare” strengthened weak-to-nonexistent legal protections for breastfeeding employees. Abolish the ACA, and you also do away with an employers' obligation to provide times and a place for a nursing mom to breastfeed her infant or express milk.
With that backdrop in mind, there was a landmark court ruling on Thursday that reinforced these protections.
A federal appeals court—a conservative one, no less— upheld a jury verdict against the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama for forcing a police officer to resign after failing to accommodate her need to breastfeed her baby.
Former police officer Stephanie Hicks in 2013 sued Tuscaloosa, alleging that the police department where she worked was liable for pregnancy discrimination, constructive discharge, interference with her rights under the Family Medical Leave Act and retaliation for exercising those rights.
Hicks worked as an investigator; but after taking 12 weeks for FMLA leave in connection with the birth of child, she was transferred to the patrol division. As a consequence, she was required to wear a bulletproof vest at work. She continued to work but fell into a depression.
Her doctor entered the picture, and wrote a request for alternate duty to accommodate Ms. Hicks’ breastfeeding.
The Neanderthal-chief refused the request, but offered her a larger vest. She resigned upon hearing that response.
A jury awarded Hicks $374,000, though later the court reduced the judgment to $161,000.
Tuscaloosa appealed to the 11th Circuit in 2016.
In Thursday’s opinion written by Circuit Judge Charles Wilson, the panel said breastfeeding was a legally protected medical condition that merited accommodation.
BTW, click on the picture for more info on benefits to breastfed babies.
For more, see Hicks v. Tuscaloosa, here: http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201613003.pdf.
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