Earlier today (at 1:13 pm EST) I sent a complaint letter to Totes/Isotoner in regard to their firing an employee for taking breaks to pump her breastmilk. I received the following response at 5:49 pm EST from HR Manager Vicki FIghtmaster (gotta love that last name).
What I learned from this email:
- They won’t comment on this specific employee or the court case.
- LaNisa Allen was a temporary employee but I’m not sure how her employment rights differ on this basis, though they do say they support all nursing employees.
- They say they DO provide time for women to pump but did not provide details.
If LaNisa worked in an office instead of a warehouse and not been a temporary employee (many warehouse and factory workers are employed via contract ), her additional daily 10 minute break would not have been a fire-able offense.
LaNisa was busted in the bathroom pumping and when she spoke to a supervisor later that day to ask if they could adjust her break schedule, they fired her.
I responded and asked her to forward me their official lactation policy since the basis of her termination was due to not requesting permission from her supervisor to pump. I don’t understand how or why this is possible.
Here is their email:
Dear Danielle,
Thank you for your note and concerns regarding the Ohio Supreme Court
Ruling regarding the termination of a temporary employee.
As a matter of policy, totes»ISOTONER is not able to provide specific
information surrounding the employment circumstances of any employee.
What we can share is that based on the circumstances involved with this
specific temporary employee, the totes»ISOTONER employment decision has been supported by the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, the Ohio Court of Appeals for the 12th District and the Ohio Supreme Court. And while we cannot specifically address the Ohio Supreme Court Ruling, we can share several of our workplace practices:
· totes»ISOTONER absolutely supports employees, whether full-time,
part-time, or temporary, who are also nursing mothers.
· totes»ISOTONER does provide time for nursing mothers to pump
their breast milk and many employees have taken advantage of this
accommodation. In the case presented to the Supreme Court, we did
provide this accommodation.
· totes»ISOTONER is a company committed to supporting our employees. Because females account for approximately 70% of our work force, we are very attuned to and supportive of the needs of working
mothers.
Again, thank you for your note and expressing your views on this issue.
We take great pride in our culture of being a family oriented company,
and can only indicate there were other factors involved in this
particular situation which led to the company’s decision in this case.
We appreciate your having been a customer in the past and hope you will
reconsider your decision in this regard going forward.
Sincerely,
Vickie Fightmaster
Human Resources Manager
totes»ISOTONER
For more information about this case, visit:
Let Isotoner/Totes know you’re mad. Send a letter of complaint. Feel free to use my letter as a template.
