New mother says JBS gave her filthy room to pump milk, fired her for doctor visits

A former Iowa slaughterhouse worker who'd already lost one child says she was penalized and fired by her employer for pumping milk and going to medical appointments to protect her next one.

Plaintiff Star Rice sued multinational pork producer JBS in Wapello County in January, accusing the company of pregnancy and gender discrimination and violations of the federal Family Medical Leave Act and Fair Labor Standards Act. JBS has since moved the case to federal court, and in court filings has denied wrongdoing. An attorney for JBS did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Attorney Jacquelyn Judickas, representing Rice, said in a statement that pregnant women and nursing mothers are entitled to "dignity and respect" from their employers.

“That means not penalizing individuals for going to pregnancy-related doctor appointments and providing a safe space to pump breast milk," Judickas said. "Women cannot be required to make decisions at the expense of their child’s health in order to keep their jobs. Ms. Rice is committed to both caring for her children and being a working member of society.”

Pregnant worker says she was penalized for approved absences

According to her complaint, Star began working on the production lines at JBS' Ottumwa pork plant in early 2020, and later that year learned she was pregnant.

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Rice's pregnancy was deemed high-risk by doctors, leading to numerous medical appointments. Her suit says she sought, and obtained, approval from JBS for those work absences, only to learn later they were still being counted against her in a "points" system the company used to track worker absences.

Rice gave birth in June 2021 and returned to work the following month, but continued to have medical appointments related to her newborn. At one point, she alleges, JBS attempted to fire her because she had accrued too many absence points, even though the absences were approved for legitimate medical needs.

Rice says that when she protested her firing, JBS reinstated her but did not remove the absence points from her attendance records.

New mother says she pumped milk in filthy room

Rice says she returned to work with a doctor's note seeking accommodations to pump breast milk while at work. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, "Most nursing employees have the right to reasonable break time and a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view to express breast milk while at work" for up to one year after giving birth.

Instead, Rice claims in her suit, she was offered the use of "an old room that smelled of rotten meat, with dirty cement floors, tacky traps for insects, and a semi-functional sink." The room also was not private, she says, with other employees coming and going and, on one occasion, pulling aside the shower curtain that was supposed to shield her from view.

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She also got pushback for the amount of time she was taking to pump, she alleges. Supervisor Victor Rodriquez, who is named as a defendant, allegedly sought to obtain a copy of her medical file from the company's human resources office and tried to get her to limit her pumping breaks to 15 minutes instead of 30, the suit says. It notes that Rice was required to wear several layers of protective equipment to work on the production line, adding considerably to the time it took to disrobe herself to pump. Nonetheless, she says, she was written up for taking too long to pump in March 2022.

Rice claims she made multiple complaints to human resources about the condition of the lactation space and the harassment she was getting from peers and managers, but that the company took no steps to correct the issues.

'Can't you just feed your baby when you get home?'

Another supervisor named in the lawsuit, Erika Kemp, allegedly both ignored and participated in the harassment against Rice. At one point, Rice says in her suit, Kemp told her “you can either put up with it or you can leave.” Kemp also repeatedly made comments to the effect of "can’t you just feed your baby when you get home?" Rice claims.

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In fact, Rice says, she had even more cause than most parents to do everything she could to pump milk to ensure her child was healthy.

"Defendants knew that Ms. Rice's first child had died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and that Ms. Rice was desperately trying to do everything she could to help ensure good health for her newborn child, including feeding her child with breastmilk," she says in the complaint.

Finally, in April 2022, Rice was told upon arriving at work that she was being terminated, again due to having accrued too many attendance points, the suit says. These points again included her approved time off for medical appointments, Rice says.

This article has been edited to correct the spelling of Jacquelyn Judickas' name.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Pork producer JBS sued for pregnancy discrimination at Iowa plant