Post by badtzmaru22 on Sept 1, 2015 9:14:28 GMT -5
I am lucky that I have my own office with a locking door, so I could pump and work (or not) in my own space. Maybe we aren't getting the full story about the lactation room, and maybe she can't work while pumping there, and would have to make up the time. But whatever the case, if SHE is comfortable with it, her coworkers need to mind their own business.
I didn't find the PISA all that loud. I talked on the phone while pumping, and I had a coworker who would call me while she pumped as well, and I never heard anything. She had a Freestyle. I think running a fan would be enough to muffle it. My office generally has a buzz to it anway, from people talking, the printer running, phones, etc. It's not silent in here all day long.
And ditto water*drop about complaining about lack of maternity leave in the US.
I think she needs to utilize the pumping room. I would liken it to any other hygiene issue that just shouldn't be done with co-workers like clipping fingers or flossing. If there weren't other reasonable accommodations my answer might be different but I don't know. I mean, I pump and another woman in my office pumps (in our own private offices) but I would feel awkward being around her while she was pumping.
Hmmm, not sure how I feel about equating this to hygiene. In that case, is it unhygienic to ask an employee to give up his office twice a day so a female co-worker can pump? Because this is what happened in my old workplace. It seems by your logic that what I was doing in this guy's office was akin to clipping my nails and flossing.
Post by badtzmaru22 on Sept 1, 2015 10:04:26 GMT -5
Ok, I just read the Prudie, and it says, "for the last 10 months or so... Coworker has been pumping".
10 months, and they are just now complaining? I feel like the window of time to complain about this has long since passed, and the coworkers can stfu. Chances are, she's probably close to done at this point!
I thinks it's interesting that the letter to Prudie only addresses noise, people here confirm that pumps are super loud and could disrupt a professional environment; yet there are still responses that state the coworkers are obviously upset at the IDEA of pumping. That's utter speculation based on nothing presented in this specific situation.
I think that this is important because if BFing and pumping are going to become normalized, issues like this one (the noise) are going to have to be addressed for what they are. Maybe that means the coworkers deal with the noise, maybe it means the mother should use the room provided but jumping to the conclusion that people just don't support breast feeding is not always the answer or even helpful.
Maybe this is flammable, but I think it's OK for people the be weirded out by the IDEA of pumping and prefer someone do it privately when possible. I think one can be totally supportive of breastfeeding/working mothers and still be a little weirded out by the idea of working along side someone who is expressing milk from her boobs (typing this while pumping - and realizing I'm very fortunate to work from home!).
No, I get it. I realize I'm totally projecting my own level of (dis)comfort about pumping in an open concept space.
FWIW, I am team go to the lactation room. It doesn't sound THAT inconvenient. When I got to my current job they had a lactation room that was a shared space without a locked door. I shut that down immediately and people were like "what's the big deal? Can't the pumper just work around the schedule of others" Um, unless you want a physiology lesson I'm going to go with no, she can't.