What org can help with bfing legal matter?

[StarlightMcEggsie]

I have a tribunal to attend wrt my ds' SN shortly. It is going to be scheduled in one of the six weeks after I give birth. I do not want to be separated from my baby on this day but will have to attend.

The tribunal cannot be delayed as every week that passes without matters resolved costs us a considerable amount of money.

Many Tia!

I think that the issue is that you could probably find legal protection for breastfeeding - but where the law is far weaker is allowing someone to have their baby with them. So if it was ok for the baby to be there, I suspect I could find something in the Equality Act to say it was unlawful to prevent you breastfeeding. However, if the judge says simply that babies are disrupting to court procedure, that's more difficult.

That said, tribunals are most laid back than formal courts, and judges are generally good people! Have you tried ringing your barrister and seeing if he/she has experienced this issue in your particular tribunal?

Not yet. Tis Easter ya know!

DS fed for 20 mins out of 40 day and night. if it is a baby like that I just can't see how anything other than having baby with me will work.

I'm worried that panel generation will be against me from the start as failing to understand why u can't just leave baby with bottle.

I've not been before your sort of panel before, so couldn't really say. Employment judges tend to be young. Forties max often.

Sorry. Meant 40 mins every hour.

TBH isn't the baby a bit of a red herring IYSWIM. Even if you left the baby outside the court room, you would still need to express for comfort in the same time intervals that the baby would feed. It might be worth pointing that out to the judge.

Hope you can move the date earlier to a pre baby slot or find another solution, can't think of anything useful to suggest but wish you luck.

Right.

1. The tribunals service is a public body, so the Equalities Act applies. It includes something called the Public Sector Equality Duty which places even stronger requirements on public sector bodies. It doesn't matter whether the public are allowed into the tribunal or not - it's the service which is covered, not the venue.

1. The Equalities Act protects you from discrimination on the grounds of maternity. This means they are not allowed to treat you less favourably than someone else who was not breastfeeding. In fact they must actively try to remove any disadvantages that you might suffer.

Examples of that would include:

• Practices that meant you incurred a financial penalty, compared to non-BF mothers
• Practices that meant you had to wait longer for your slot, compared to non-BF mothers
• Practices that meant you had to compromise BF in any way, which would disadvantage you and your baby's wellbeing.

Forget about asking permission or worrying about 'what seems reasonable'. Fact is, these are your legal rights. Personally I would contact the tribunal people and simply inform them you will be bringing your 6 week old baby into the room. You should expect lawyers to be aware of the law !!