$1.5M award in breastfeeding discrimination case overturned

WILMINGTON, Del. – A federal judge has overturned a jury verdict awarding $1.5 million to a Delaware fast food worker who claimed she was mistreated because she wanted to pump her breast milk.

The judge on Tuesday granted a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee’s request for judgment in its favour on Autumn Lampkins’ hostile work environment claims. The judge said the jury’s findings on those claims were “unreasonable.”

The judge also ordered a new trial on Lampkins’ claims that her demotion and the reduction of her work hours because she was lactating amounted to sexual discrimination.

Lampkins alleged, among other things, that she struggled with a lack of privacy. She also said co-workers complained about the breaks she was allowed to take to pump breast milk while they had to continue working.