Joseph F. Weis, Jr. U.S. Courthouse
PITTSBURGH – A new mother fed up with her employer’s refusal to let her pump breast milk at work will get to take her lawsuit toward trial.
Judge Nora Barry Fischer recently issued a pair of rulings against GAT Airline Ground Support, which faces claims of retaliation, sex discrimination and hostile work environment from Madison Weaver.
Weaver experienced resistance when asking to take breaks from her job manning a ticket counter at Pittsburgh International Airport, leading to a clogged milk duct. After that, she began taking breaks when she needed to, even if staff at GAT did not approve them.
Though GAT, which provided services for an airline at PIT, won summary judgment on Weaver’s Fair Labor Standards Act claim, it lost arguments on the other claims in a Sept. 15 ruling by Fischer, who refused to change any of it in an order issued this week.
“A jury could reasonably find that Defendants’ conduct was not merely offensive, but was deeply humiliating and posed a threat to Plaintiff’s health (and her baby’s well-being); and that it reasonably interfered with Plaintiff’s work performance,” Fischer wrote.
Weaver returned to work in May 2022 after giving birth. She started with two days a week, with the intention of progressing to four, but problems pumping began immediately.
Flight schedules had staff at GAT refusing some requested breaks then telling her to take a break when pumping wasn’t needed. A month in, Weaver suffered a clogged milk duct.
The attempt to accommodate her schedule led to her being assigned exclusively to a ticket counter, which closed earlier than the flight gate. She claims she was advised to stay home until she was done nursing and endured hostility and demeaning comments.
She informed HR about her intent to file a complaint with the Department of Labor. On June 30, 2022, she asked to pump at 4:30 p.m. but was denied, forcing a delay of 54 minutes. On July 7, she said she needed to pump at 4:45 p.m. but was told to wait until after work on a 5:05 flight was completed.
She did not. She left the counter to pump at her preferred time. And she was sent home for insubordination.
The next day, she said she had to pump at 4:30 p.m. but was pulled into an office and threatened with suspension and sent home again. A disciplinary note a week later said she was “refusing to work [her] schedule shifts unless [she] can walk away from [her] post whenever [she] would like.”
The DOL told GAT Weaver needed to take a break each time she had to pump, which was on a regular schedule of 4:30 p.m. and then again three hours later. On Aug. 10, 2022, Weaver was fired for “job abandonment.” She sued in 2023, naming supervisors as individual defendants in addition to GAT.
“(T)he record contains substantial evidence that each individual defendant substantially participated, in a supervisory capacity, in a pattern of conduct toward Plaintiff that… may fairly be found to constitute unlawful discrimination and retaliation,” Fischer wrote.
