Fired breast-milk pumping mother settles with Big League Haircuts

Big League Haircuts had a big problem with an employee, Ashley Provino, pumping breast milk at work. The Grand Junction-based barbershop canned her. But she fought back.

Provino and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado joined forces and sued. Now, Big League Haircuts has settled, changing company policy to make sure employees have space and time to pump and compensating Provino with an undisclosed amount of money.

“We hope that this settlement sends a clear message to all employers on the Western Slope and throughout Colorado that no mother can or should be forced to choose between breastfeeding her baby and keeping her job,” staff attorney Rebecca Wallace said in a press release.

Since 2008, when the Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act passed in Colorado, mothers have had the right to pump at work, though many employers have had a steep learning curve. The ACLU has worked with DISH Network and settled another suit with a Jefferson County charter school to improve conditions for nursing mothers.

 

Photo credit: planet_oleary, Creative Commons, Flickr.