>Hi all,
>Received a call tonight from a mom who is being harassed by a co-worker
>with regards to expressing breastmilk at work.  Mom is a teacher and
>uses her empty classroom (with door locked) twice a day.

>I referred her to Rep. Mahoney's website.  In NY we do not have as yet
>any legislation protecting a mom's right to pump at work.  Anyone have
>any other suggestions for this mom?

Here are a couple of thoughts:
 How many people are giving her a hard time? What is the
nature of the harrassment?
1. The social worker in me says that she should elicit from
her colleagues just what it is that they object to. There are
a number of things that could be troubling him/her/them and
a number of different ways they could articulate it. Once the
objections are on the table they can be addressed.

2. Does she have a supervisor to whom she could turn for
advice and/or support in this? What about other colleagues?

3. I did some research on bf in the workplace a few years ago.
Part of the research involved interviewing bfing women who
were in workplaces that did not have lactation support. One of
the things that many of these women rightfully prided themselves
on was the way in which their actions and words educated co-workers
and on several inspired other childbearing co-workers to
follow their example.

4. Do you have other clients or does she have other friends
from whom she can get some much needed support and also advice
for strategies that might work in her situation?

5. Does the Dept of Ed of the city or state have a policy on this?
Does her union have some policy or can she get some advice from them?

6. I don't know that a law protecting a right to pump at work is
necessary. People smoke cigarettes on their breaks without a law
saying it's ok for them to do so. People run errands, read books,
write letters on their breaks. Why do we need a law saying it's
ok to bf or pump at work?

In the end, it shouldn't require that much intervention. I would
begin with a conversation trying to find out what the problem is
and seeing if it can be addressed.
Hope this is helpful. Let us know how it resolves.
  Naomi Bar-Yam

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