Two McDonald’s employees have filed a class action lawsuit against the chain and its franchise operations alleging its restaurants do not provide reasonable lactation spaces for nursing mothers, which is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Pump Act. According to Law 360, the employees – one in Kansas and one in New York – filed their suit in Illinois federal court on Wednesday, noting the lack of accommodations at their restaurants forced them to pump in unsanitary spaces, including stock rooms and back offices.
Both women said the lack of accommodations is causing them anxiety, humiliation, and emotional distress. They also claim they don’t have long enough breaks to pump breast milk during their shifts.
Nation’s Restaurant News reached out to McDonald’s for comment. The McDonald’s suit comes less than two weeks after a similar class action suit was filed against Wendy’s in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Such lawsuits aren’t unusual. Amazon was sued for failure to provide adequate accommodations in 2022, for instance, while United States Postal workers brought forth a similar lawsuit in August 2023. Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division began an investigation into a Texas Whataburger location after an employee alleged she was fired for leaving to pump breast milk.
There is precedent here in the restaurant space; in 2019, KFC was ordered to pay a former Delaware employee more than $1.5 million in a discrimination case filed after she said she was demoted for pumping breast milk, adding that she lacked adequate time and space to do so.
Notably, the Fair Labor Standards Act requiring employers to provide a nursing mother reasonable break time and space for pumping breast milk went into effect in 2010. It wasn’t until late 2022, however, that Congress passed the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers, or PUMP Act. Under the PUMP Act, employers must provide nursing employees with reasonable break times to pump in a place “other than a bathroom” that is “shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public.” The PUMP Act essentially closed loopholes in the 2010 law and extended the legal right to receive breaks and space to nearly 9 million more workers, according to Worklife Law.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
