Earlier this year, MomsRising member Heather Burgbacher wrote to us to share her story about the discrimination she was facing after seeking accommodations to express breastmilk while working at a public charter school in Colorado. Heather shared her distress that after years of receiving excellent evaluations for her work, her teaching contract had not been renewed as a result of the “conflict” related to her pumping schedule.

Given the potential legal implications of her case, I immediately shared her story with our colleagues at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project to see if they could help.  Heather began working with the ACLU and today they filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity and took the first steps towards filing suit against the school district based on the grounds that they have violated Colorado’s Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers rules enacted in 2008.  This is great news!

Since connecting with Heather, we have received at least a hundred similar stories from teachers who face humiliating and unthinkable challenges to pumping milk while at work.  We have shared these stories and others with the Department of Labor as part of their effort to best implement the federal Break Time for Nursing Mothers rule.

And we know that many more women have similar stories about how facing discrimination or resistance to expressing milk at work.  (And if you have a story, share it with us so we can continue to educate lawmakers and the media about this issue.)

There’s no reason for Heather or any other mother to choose between breastfeeding their babies and returning to work.  So today, we cheering for Heather and all nursing women who seek the support they deserve from their employers!