Breastfeeding At Work

Dear Evil HR Lady,

I need advice. Last year I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. I went back to work Feb. 1st of this year as a part time employee. I am nursing and pump once daily at work. Prior to leaving on maternity leave I informed my employer that I would be returning in Feb as a part time employee and would need a place to pump. The place was provided and a time was agreed by both of us.

Lately, the hours that are busiest have changed and we have lost a few employees-are now understaffed. My employer wants me to change my hours to coincide with the busiest time of day. Unfortunately, I have no child care for those hours and she has given me 2 weeks to find someone to care for him. If I cannot work those hours then she wants me to resign.

On top of changing my hours she is just now deciding to take my health benefits away (announced that she was only doing me a courtesy to let me keep it up to this point) and she is not allowing me to pump anymore after my hours change since it would seriously disrupt the operations of the employer, which is a way of not allowing me to pump through California Labor Code 1032.

She has publicly informed me of the issues she has with me (in front of coworkers) and even stated that I was taking advantage of her nice actions. She has issues with me pumping and still needing time in the work day to eat ( Eating while working had never been an issue at our office-she prefers this so no one clocks out). Until I change my hours I have agreed to clock out for pumping sessions and not eat at all for the 5 hours I work Mon-Fri.

She has been asking me to fix other issues at work and I am feeling harassed. She has sent me e-mails, texts, & spoken to me in person about different issues. I feel like I am walking on egg shells everyday and am just overall uncomfortable with her around. Unfortunately, we are a small medical practice (with only 5 employees total) and she is the only doctor/owner, so I deal with her daily. She has a history of verbally attacking employees and constantly breathing down their backs (Ive seen it happen to others & have been a victim before). I don’t know what to do except try my best to work with her requests but I want to know my rights so I can stand up to her with concrete facts. Help please.

To read the answer click here: Breastfeeding At Work