Part of creating a working climate of gender equity is the need for employers to welcome new mothers back into the workplace with lactation rooms for pumping breast milk. Employers who fail to do so or who create an environment where breast-feeding women are less than welcome may face legal consequences. The recent decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Dajti v. Penn Community Bank, No. 20-1483, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62422 (Mar. 31, 2021) illustrates the potential peril for employers.

Employee Needs Lactation Room Upon Return

Klevina Dajti was a well-regarded manager for Penn Community Bank when she gave birth to her second child in April 2018. A few months before, Dajti’s first child was diagnosed with leukemia. While on extended leave, Dajti advised her manager (referred to in the complaint as KM) that she would need “a designated lactation room” at her branch upon her return. When she returned to work in August, however, there was no designated room. Rather, Dajti was told that she would need to use her 45-minute to one-hour lunch break to “drive home … pump breast milk, eat lunch and drive back to work.” KM, however, complained that she was overwhelmed at the branch during Dajti’s absence and “demanded” that Dajti’s break be shortened to 30 minutes. Further, KM is alleged to have made “negative and harassing comments” about Dajti’s breast-feeding and her need to attend her son’s chemotherapy sessions which, according to the Complaint, Dajti was forced to endure because KM controlled Dajti’s schedule. Eventually, in November 2018, after Dajti raised this situation with Human Resources, a bathroom was modified into a viable lactation room.

Termination