On her first day back from maternity leave, Angela Ames waited for one of her company’s lactation rooms. When she spoke to her department head, Karla Neel, she was told that it was the company nurse’s problem.
Ames then contacted the nurse. She explained that she was lactating every 3 hours and needed a room. The nurse explained that she would have to file paperwork to request a room and that the application would take 3 days to process.
While she waited for a room to become available, Ames spoke with her supervisor who threatened to discipline her if she didn’t get all her work done (that she had missed while on maternity leave) within two weeks. She went back to her office in tears and visibly upset. She hadn’t lactated for hours past when she needed. This is the point when Neel told her “You know, I think it’s best that you go home to be with your babies,” and handed her a pen and paper to write a resignation letter.
Best part of this story is, the three Republican men who made up the federal appeals panel for her discrimination case rejected her claim, saying she didn’t give her insurance company enough information to address her concerns.