Mum to battle government over breastfeeding rights

Tuesday 06 August 2019

A health worker is bringing a discrimination claim against the government after she says was passed over for a promotion whilst pregnant, and then prevented from taking time to express milk during her working day, Express can reveal.

Lucy* says she is speaking up to prevent other mothers from going through what she says happened to her, and to encourage a change in legislation.

Speaking to Express, the woman, who works within the Health Department, alleges that she was removed from the list of candidates when she applied for a promotion, as she could not attend an interview due to being close to her due date.

But, she claims, the other big issue, which has now led her to being signed off work, is that her department stopped being flexible when it came to her taking time to express milk whilst at work. "It started encroaching on my ability to be a mother," Lucy said.

Upon her return from maternity leave, the Health Department employee says she received an "outright no" when she asked for time to pump milk. She spent two weeks not being able to express milk, which she described as "a difficult time."

One of her line managers decided to support her, but, after three days, Lucy says they were reprimanded by a senior member of staff for allowing her to express milk while at work.

Pictured: Lucy said the difficulties caused by her employer started "encroaching on [her] ability to be a mother."

Lucy alleges she was then told she would have to take the time either as unpaid or to use her holiday allowance. “I was upset,” she said. “I could not take it as unpaid leave and I could not work extra time as I was already trying my hardest to look after my baby and make it to work on time.”

Lucy said she resorted to stopping having lunch and used her lunch break to express milk, going without food for the rest of the day.

But more issues arose when she had to work 24-hour on call shifts. “I was really struggling,” she said. “It was kind of a health and safety issue as well, but when I talked to my managers, I was told, ‘Tough, deal with it.'"

Lucy got in touch with the States Assembly's breastfeeding champion, Deputy Louise Doublet. Eventually, Lucy’s managers agreed to let her have an extra 15 minutes at the end of her lunch break, on the condition that she would start her day 15 minutes early. “I was expressing for an hour and then eating my lunch for the remaining 15 minutes,” Lucy said of the “flexible arrangement.” 

Pictured: "I always tried my hardest, I always gave my 100%," Lucy said.

Yet again, the young mum says she encountered more issues when her managers told her she was arriving late, that she was taking too much time on her lunch break and was not working hard enough during her extra 15 minutes.

In addition, she was told that her colleagues had made complaints about her and the 'special treatment' she received.

“I worked hard for six weeks, but I was told the work I was doing in my first 15 minutes was either not agreed upon or that I was not achieving what they set out for me to do. I was there every day, I was doing above and beyond in that time. I always tried my hardest, I always gave my 100%. There was no reason to treat me like that," Lucy said, adding that it's really important for her mental health to be able to go back to work.

Pictured: Lucy said the stress of the situation impaired her ability to express milk.

The situation ended up affecting Lucy so much that she was not producing enough milk. “Breastfeeding is such a hard thing on its own,” she said. “Stress makes it worse. I was sitting there for an hour and not a drop would come out.” 

After reaching a point where she could not cope anymore, Lucy was signed off work. She has since hired a lawyer and is bringing her case against the government to the Employment Tribunal.

“I would have never envisaged having so much difficulties,” she said. “I was doing what was best for me and my baby. I would really hate to see anyone experience the same thing.”

“The States have invested so much in encouraging mums to breastfeed,” Lucy adds. “I find it amazing that they invested to do this and yet do not do anything in the background to actually help mums.” 

Lucy is now calling for the government to change its policy across all services to get rid of the "double standard" whereby some departments have provisions for breastfeeding breaks while others don't.

Pictured: Deputy Doublet wants the Government to extend breastfeeding rights to States employees.

Deputy Doublet is supportive of Lucy’s message and is also keen to see local companies introduce breastfeeding-friendly policies.

“To breastfeed successfully, the mother needs a lot of support,” she said. “I would like to think that as a society we are not letting mums and babies down. These women are giving birth to the next generation, those are the children that are going to pay our pensions when we are old.” 

The Deputy says there are a number of benefits for employers who support breastfeeding mums.

“There are a lot of high-achieving women who want to keep their careers and have a family. Supporting mums help retaining talent and there is a lot of evidence that babies who have been breastfeed are sick less often, which means the mum won’t have to take as much time off to look after them.”

Pictured: Breastfeeding rights were part of family friendly changes to the Employment Law brought forward by Social Security Minister Deputy Judy Martin. 

Breastfeeding rights - which would have given new mothers the right to breaks to breastfeed or express breast milk, as well as ensuring employers have appropriate facilities for this to take place, and for the milk to be stored - were part of changes being put forward by Social Security Minister Deputy Judy Martin in an attempt to make workplaces around the island more 'family friendly'.

While Deputy Martin withdrew the legislation, days ahead of the proposals being voted on by politicians, she pledged to keep the breastfeeding rights in the new proposals.

In the meantime, Deputy Doublet has drafted a proposition calling on the States Employment Board (SEB) to immediately extend breastfeeding rights to States employees, without waiting for the change in legislation.

A government spokesperson explained that there are specific provisions for breastfeeding mothers in the Maternity Leave Policy. It states that mothers who are likely to be breastfeeding, or expressing, and require facilities to do so in the workplace should speak to their line manager or HR Manager prior to returning to work and to give as much notice as possible. 

The policy adds that they will have to discuss "short-term flexible working arrangements" to accommodate this, as breaks from work for this purpose during working hours would normally be unpaid.

*Name changed to maintain anonymity.