Discrimination Based on Breast Feeding Protected By Pregnancy Discrimination Act & Title VII

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in EEOC v. Houston Funding II, Ltd. that the plaintiff should receive a jury trial on whether the company violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and Title VII, when she requested the right to use a breast milk express pump at work and was fired. The plaintiff was an employee who gave birth and was on leave for the birth. She was breast-feeding the baby at home and, in order to continue the feeding and return to work, she needed to use a breast pump at work. The company was reluctant to oblige and when she pushed the issue they fired her allegedly for other reasons. She sued in federal court and the company convinced the judge to dismiss her case. She appealed to the Fifth Circuit, which has the reputation of being hostile to employees. However, in this case, the panel came down on the side of the employee holding that she should get a jury trial on the issue. The Fifth Circuit stated that “The PDA provides that “[t]he terms ‘because of sex’ or ‘on the basis of sex’ include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions[.]” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-(k). The court went on to use the dictionary definition of “medical condition” and state that “given that this definition includes any physiological condition, it is difficult to see how it could not encompass lactation.” The court stated that lactation is a normal aspect of female physiology that is initiated by pregnancy and concludes sometime thereafter. Therefore, the court held that lactation is an aspect of female physiology that is affected by pregnancy and seems readily to fit into a reasonable definition of “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.” The court further held that “because discriminating against a woman who is lactating or expressing breast milk violates Title VII and the PDA, we find that the EEOC has stated a prima facie case of sex discrimination with a showing that Houston Funding fired [plaintiff] because she was lactating and wanted to express milk at work.”