This comment deserved to have its own posting!

Jennifer Yourkavitch comments:
"My husband, enraged, sent the following note to Isotoner Customer Service (customeraffairs@totes.com) and the CEO (awalters@northlich.com):

To Whom it May Concern:

One would think that someone with sense at your company would have done something to prevent an issue like this from even going to court, let alone the state Supreme Court. It's a nice victory in the court of law, but in the court of public opinion I think this makes Totes/Isotoner look backward, discriminatory, insensitive, and at worst hostile to infant nutrition.

A wiser course would have been to implement a policy to allow lactating women to have scheduled breaks, create a space for them to lactate in private, and generally support people who are trying to follow American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization guidance for feeding children in the best possible way--the way they have been fed since humans have been having children. It is the utmost act of love for a parent to nourish their child the best they possibly can. Frankly, I think this mother will have a much happier and productive life away from the toxic atmosphere of your company.

If I were on the Totes/Isotoner Board, I would have recommended firing the manager who made this choice and compromised the brand image of the company in the press, not the lactating mother.

I am systematically divesting my home of all of your products, and will never purchase anything from your lines of products again. I am exploring canceling relationships with firms that carry your products.

Sincerely,

Robert Carty
Father, Husband

Lawyer alert!! Isontoner fires worker for taking milk expression breaks...

The judges say that lactation has nothing to do with child bearing...
Can you imagine?
A woman was fired for taking breaks to express milk with a 5 month old baby and the judges pronounce that this is not covered as pregnancy-related.
I would like to see those judges try non-pregnancy-related breastfeeding.
(I know, I know, anyone can lactate, but really....)

My friend and colleague Mary Overfield suggests boycotting. Reasonable.
However, if we are ever going to fix the mess we are in we need the lawyers to get in on this somehow.
Ideas?


http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/08/28/LACTATE.ART_ART_08-28-09_B1_8EET5UK.html?sid=101