A HuffPost investigation shows many low-wage workers are confined to filthy bathrooms, can't get breaks and even lose their jobs trying to pump.
After a Walmart employee wrapped up her maternity leave in 2015, she walked into her Carson City, Nevada, store with an electric breast pump in tow. She was intent on breastfeeding her new baby. Walmart was legally obligated to help her do it by providing a private space and enough breaks so she could pump breastmilk. But the slow-moving disaster that unfolded over her first weeks back illustrated the many challenges breastfeeding moms like her still face on the job.
At first, management told her she would have to pump in the store’s fitting rooms, but there was no outlet for her to plug in her electric pump. She asked if she could use an extension cord and was told it would be a tripping hazard.
So she wound up pumping in the store’s employee training room. The law states the space must be “free from intrusion,” but she later said managers and co-workers walked in on her several times when her breasts were exposed ― sometimes even holding group meetings in her presence. Managers told her she could use a space next to the electrical server room, but it was dirty and a sign on the door warned of danger from high voltage.
Management’s next best solution was to provide her with a manual pump to use in the fitting room. But her body had grown accustomed to the electric pump, and her milk production dropped off sharply when she started using the manual one. The lack of milk left her baby hungry. Her colleagues saw her crying at work and pooled money to buy her the baby formula she apparently couldn’t afford.
The formula initially made the child sick, forcing the mother to buy a special version for sensitive babies. She was eligible for financial assistance for formula under Nevada’s Women, Infants and Children program for low-income families ― but she was told she needed to turn in the free electric pump she had received through the same public program. (A WIC spokesperson says that a mother would be asked to return a breast pump she’s no longer using, but that benefits could not be withheld if she didn’t.)
Walmart finally did install an electrical outlet so the employee could use her electric pump, but it took more than two months ― a third of the time doctors recommend a mother breastfeed her baby exclusively. And by then it was too late. She’d given up on breastfeeding and started feeding the baby solely formula.
The Walmart worker’s story was among 376 investigations that HuffPost obtained from the federal government through public records requests. The Labor Department is responsible for enforcing the “nursing mothers” provision of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, which requires employers like Walmart to accommodate workers who want to pump breastmilk. HuffPost sought any cases involving a potential violation of that law and received investigations from across the country, stretching from 2010 to 2018. The agency redacted names and identifying characteristics of workers in the files, but they provide insight into the kinds of problems new moms face while pumping on the job.
read more
