THE LACTATION LOWDOWN AT LAREDO

Well, if the Customs & Border Protection supervisors did not know about their lactation obligations they will soon.  EEOC just ordered the agency to “ provide at least eight (8) hours of interactive in-person EEO training to all managers at Laredo Port of Entry Field Office and World Trade Bridge on responsibilities under Title VII with respect to the treatment of female employees and their ability to utilize the agency’s Lactation Support Program in a non-discriminatory manner as well as the prohibition against other forms of disparate treatment.” Why?

Well, EEOC found that the Agency subjected an employee, an Agriculture Specialist, to disparate treatment based on sex when it treated her less favorably because of her need to lactate when it (1) failed to provide a private area for her to express milk, (2) implemented new procedures that delayed her access to the lactation room, and (3) sent her home repeatedly instead of allowing her to work and use annual or sick leave as needed during the periods she needed to express milk at work.

Aside from the very costly obligation to train all its Laredo supervisors, the agency must restore 94 hours of sick leave she was forced to take and reach an agreement with her on compensatory damages.  The most tangible lesson here is that when the agency fails to provide private space for a woman to lactate and that forces her to take any form of leave to do so elsewhere, it violates law and is liable.

For more details, check out Cheryll K., v. Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Sec’y, DHS, CBP, EEOC No. 2022001648 (2023)