Judge: Firing for lactating not sex discrimination
A Houston woman who says she lost her collection agency job because she wanted to pump breast milk for her newborn child has lost a lawsuit accusing her employer of sex discrimination.
In a lawsuit filed on behalf of Donnicia Venters, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argued that Houston Funding fired her in February 2010 over the lactation issue.
"I didn't think anything was wrong," she told KHOU-TV (http://bit.ly/yiW2RD) of Houston. "I'm very shocked that it did happen. I worked very hard for that company going on three years, a lot of hours. I was a good employee, and I didn't see it coming at all."
Houston Funding argued that it fired Venters because, while recovering from postpartum complications, she didn't keep supervisors updated on her recovery and return from pregnancy leave.
In a three-page order filed last week in Houston, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes ruled that while dismissal because of pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition is illegal, "lactation is not pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition."
The day after she gave birth to her daughter on Dec. 11, 2009, "she was no longer pregnant and her pregnancy-related conditions ended. Firing someone because of lactation or breast-pumping is not sex discrimination."
Hughes concluded: "Even if Venters' claims are true, the law does not punish lactation discrimination."
Venters said Wednesday that she and the EEOC hadn't decided yet whether to appeal.
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Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
