mums lose the right to breastfeed at work

[DebL]

I was flicking through the Independent newspaper website this morning and came across this article
\linknews.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=457642{}

wondered if the mumsnet team had spotted it?

indy article

try again with the link?

I am sure that the case is not as simple as that, which is why is has been remitted for another hearing. We don't know from the article what exactly her job was or how long she wanted to breastfeed for, or whether the problem was having a place to express or actually bringing the baby to the workplace. Don't ignore the bit at the end reminding us about the H&S guidelines. The protection in European law for breastfeeding mothers is actually quite good.

I have to admit I was startled by the implication that she wanted to actually breastfeed at work. I thought there was protection for expressing, but not for bringing your baby to work. Think the report is very confusing.

I wondered if it made a difference that she was in the Forces rather than a civvy? Anyone know?

Jeremy Vine will be discussing it on Radio 2 from 12pm today.

The article that I read stated that the judge had said that women were not entitled to extra breaks to either breastfeed or express milk during working hours. Given that the legal mininum break is 20 mins for an 8 hour working day this has serious implications.

The case probably would not have been brought by a civillian employer (remember it wasn't that long ago that women in the forces automatically lost their jobs when they had a child) but now that the judgment has been made it applies to all women.

This is the statement by the Equal Opportunities commission who say that women havn't lost the right to breastfeed.

Women have not 'lost the right to breastfeed at work' as has been

reported in the media this week.

Under health and safety legislation employers are required to provide
pregnant and breastfeeding women with a place to rest. The Health and
Safety Executive also recommends that employers provide women who are
breastfeeding with suitable rest periods, access to a private room to
express milk, and somewhere to store milk.

These facts are not changed by the recent employment appeal tribunal
decision in Helen Williams's case against the MoD. Last year Helen
Williams won her sex discrimination case. She brought her claim because
she felt she had no choice but to resign from her post as an Engineering
Officer as the MoD's guidance on maternity arrangements stated that if
she wanted to continue breastfeeding beyond her maternity leave period
she would have to take unpaid occupational maternity absence.

Her employer appealed against the tribunal's decision. The employment
appeal tribunal has decided that the part of her case that relates to
breastfeeding should be heard again by another tribunal, because the
original tribunal made an error of law in the way it approached the
case. If the case is successful at the tribunal it will extend
protection against discrimination for breastfeeding women.

Jenny Watson, Deputy Chair of the EOC, said:
"The law requires employers to give breastfeeding women a place to rest
and many good employers provide more than this. They recognise that it
makes sense to give women who want to continue breastfeeding after
returning to work some flexibility to enable them to do so. The
practical reality of modern mothers' lives means that many return to
work while they are breastfeeding. We believe that they should be
protected from discrimination on grounds of maternity in the same way as
women on maternity leave.

"If women who want to are not able to continue breastfeeding when they
return to work, some, like Helen Williams, a highly regarded and
competent Engineering Officer, will feel forced to leave their job
altogether. This is a bad outcome for employers, who cannot afford to
lose women's skills and experience, as well as for individual women."

thanks for the information JulieF, the media often make errors that cause alarm when reporting on some issues don't they?