Dear Lactnetters, I thought you might be interested in this.
Karen Querna
Subj: here's the article
Date: 6/9/99 11:01:24 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: [log in to unmask] (Tom Sowa)
To: [log in to unmask] ([log in to unmask])
Mom tells jury how breast-feeding led to job loss
Tried to arrange with Southcrest suitable time for nursing infant
Tom Sowa - The Spokesman-Review
Spokane _ A mother who lost her job after being told she could not
breast-feed her child during work breaks told a Spokane jury Monday she
was not asking for special treatment.
Donna Cok, a former respiratory therapist at Southcrest nursing home, is
suing the company that hired her and which she says refused to let her
feed her 8-week-old daughter in 1996.
Cok, 36, who now lives in Plymouth, Ohio, is asking a Spokane County
Superior Court jury to award her unspecified damages for sexual
discrimination, including lost wages and emotional distress.
The lawsuit was filed in 1997 against Advanced Lifeline Services, the
Kentucky company that provides skilled workers to Southcrest and other
nursing centers across the country.
Attorneys for Advanced Lifeline told jurors in opening statements Monday
that the company did nothing wrong.
The company had to weigh Cok's wishes against the ``business decision of
ensuring the proper health care of (Southcrest) patients,'' said
Advanced Lifeline attorney Steve Pence.
Many of the patients cared for at Southcrest Subacute and Specialty Care
Center, 110 W. Cliff Drive, depend on ventilators and sometimes require
quick assistance if tubes become clogged or other emergencies take
place, Pence said.
In testimony Tuesday, Cok said she started working a 12-hour late-night
shift at Southcrest on Aug. 4, 1996. That was her first shift back after
taking an eight-week maternity leave.
Less than 90 minutes after starting her shift, Cok said her husband
called and said he needed to bring their baby to the center. The child
would not feed from a bottle.
Cok went home with her child after finding an emergency replacement.
The next day, Cok said she told a supervisor she hoped to continue
breast-feeding the child in her van parked outside the center.
She planned to do that during her 30-minute lunch breaks and at other
times ``when needed,'' she testified Tuesday.
Her supervisor instead said the center was concerned that the feedings
would occur more than once per shift and at times when Cok might be
needed to handle patient emergencies.
The company then placed Cok on ``per diem'' status, meaning she could be
called to work to replace other workers, she said.
In a request she made later, Cok told the company she wanted the option
of wearing a beeper when breast-feeding the child. That suggestion was
also not accepted.
Two months passed and Cok never was called, she testified. In October,
the company removed her name from the work schedule, she said.
Cok and her husband had at that point two other young children. She was
the family's primary bread-winner.
Her husband was a student at Whitworth College then. After Cok lost her
job, he had to quit his studies and work full time, she told jurors.
Cok remains at home and is raising the couple's four children.
During cross-examination by Pence, Cok admitted she could not assure her
supervisor the breast-feeding could be done only once or twice per
shift.
If the feeding exceeded the half-hour lunch and her two 10-minute work
breaks, Cok said she offered to keep a record of the time spent away
from patients and make sure not to be paid for that time.
Advanced Lifeline managers would not agree to that option, she said.
The trial is expected to end this week. Company attorneys will likely
call Cok's former supervisor, Laura Dover.
* Tom Sowa can be reached at 459-5492 or at [log in to unmask]
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