OT: Breasts...

[CF LION]

..pumping.

I took a new job about a month ago and have about 35 people reporting to me. One of them just returned to work from maternity leave and pumps during the day. Others (primarily women) are now complaining to me that they don't get a similar break.

WTF...I never imagined I'd ever have to deal with this kind of pettiness. One female complainer actually asked me what I thought was a reasonable time to perform a breast pumping .

Any suggestions?

 

[psuro]

Don’t answer that question without first talking to HR. Better yet let HR handle it.

 

[anon_1eeb2b426hv3y]

..pumping.

I took a new job about a month ago and have about 35 people reporting to me. One of them just returned to work from maternity leave and pumps during the day. Others (primarily women) are now complaining to me that they don't get a similar break.

WTF...I never imagined I'd ever have to deal with this kind of pettiness. One female complainer actually asked me what I thought was a reasonable time to perform a breast pumping .

Any suggestions?

You don’t want to touch that one. Let her pump whenever she needs to. When in doubt, leave her alone. Won’t last forever. If someone in HR can help, take the help. Don’t step on this third rail.

 

[MontereyLion]

Welcome to the world of business baby sitting. Get use to it.

 

[Chris92]

Don’t answer that question without first talking to HR. Better yet let HR handle it.

I'm with RO, this is what HR gets paid for.
https://www.dol.gov/whd/nursingmothers/

 

[drpops]

What if he is HR?

 

[Erial_Lion]

What if he is HR?

Then talk to his boss.

 

[Chris92]

What if he is HR?

Resign and pick a new career path.

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

..pumping.

I took a new job about a month ago and have about 35 people reporting to me. One of them just returned to work from maternity leave and pumps during the day. Others (primarily women) are now complaining to me that they don't get a similar break.

WTF...I never imagined I'd ever have to deal with this kind of pettiness. One female complainer actually asked me what I thought was a reasonable time to perform a breast pumping .

Any suggestions?

While I was still working, I had pumpers on 3 different occasions. They would do this on their regular breaks or lunch breaks. (It was a union shop, and they were entitled to breaks in the morning and afternoon.) Therefore, I never had a problem. After the first one, we were also able to provide an empty office with privacy for the second two occurrences. (While they were pregnant, I even let them nap in there during lunch.)

Mine was an overwhelmingly female staff, and when one of these young ladies took a little longer then normal to come back from break, the rest of my ladies covered for them without ever complaining and without even bringing it to my attention as a matter that needed to be resolved.

So, I never was faced with a problem.

It must suck for you to have to listen to these complaints. I mean, I mean they have to know that this is only for a limited period of time.

If you don't have a break for everybody built into the schedule, I can see this would be a problem for you.

But, I think your answer is to say that the ADA requires reasonable accomodations for medical reasons. Get her doctor to provide you with a document indicating such an accommodation is necessary. Barring that, you could adjust her schedule to allow her to make up the time....say, over lunch for example.

I agree with others here, though, watch what you say. You are being tested, frankly.

 

[LafayetteBear]

WTF...I never imagined I'd ever have to deal with this kind of pettiness. One female complainer actually asked me what I thought was a reasonable time to perform a breast pumping .

Any suggestions?

1. Flags. Multiple.
2. Offer to assist with the pumping. Don't tell your girlfriend..

 

[91Joe95]

What if he is HR?

That's easy, just tell them it's the unit manager's discretion.

 

[PS4814]

Equality is not just between genders anymore, it’s within gender.

Reminds me of when teenage me worked at a chain retail store and smokers would get extra breaks by management to feed their nic-fits. This pissed off the non-smokers and a friend of mine started smoking cigarillos to get the extra breaks too. After he stopped working there he stopped smoking.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Reminds me of when teenage me worked at a chain retail store and smokers would get extra breaks by management to feed their nic-fits. This pissed off the non-smokers and a friend of mine started smoking cigarillos to get the extra breaks too. After he stopped working there he stopped smoking. Years later, he contracted lung cancer and died a painful death. The end.

FIFY. Call me Mr. Glass Half Full.

 

[Bessmoney]

..pumping.

I took a new job about a month ago and have about 35 people reporting to me. One of them just returned to work from maternity leave and pumps during the day. Others (primarily women) are now complaining to me that they don't get a similar break.

WTF...I never imagined I'd ever have to deal with this kind of pettiness. One female complainer actually asked me what I thought was a reasonable time to perform a breast pumping .

Any suggestions?

If you have a staff of 35 then you likely work for a larger company with a significant HR function. Also larger companies are required by law to accommodate women in these types of situations. I would reach out to your contact in HR and either have them meet directly with those employees who are complaining, or provide you with the company/government policy on breast feeding and pumping to pass along.

Do these same employees complain about smokers and the hour worth of breaks (aggregate) they take daily to increase your company (and their) medical costs?

 

[PS4814]

FIFY. Call me Mr. Glass Half Full.

Wishing cancer and death on someone. Nice. Gotta be a top 3 moment of your life..

 

[BobPSU92]

Don’t answer that question without first talking to HR. Better yet let HR handle it.

Report it and let the proper people handle it? Shouldn’t he call the police or investigate it himself?

Oh, sorry. Wrong topic.

 

[BobPSU92]

Don’t you have to see and feel the breasts to answer questions about pumping?

 

[cvilleelkscoach]

My company has mother’s rooms in all our buildings for pumping. We allow them time to do it. We have pretty progressive benefits. We give 6 weeks paternity leave too. As for what to do since your company has no policy. Direct complainers to HR and encourage HR to publish a policy.

 

[hagberg]

Tell the complainer she's lucky to still be working!

Kidding.....as others have advised, let HR deal with it.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Wishing cancer and death on someone. Nice. Gotta be a top 3 moment of your life..

First, I was not wishing cancer or death on anyone. Second, my mother died of lung cancer at age 62, even though she never smoked. Sorry if I regard smoking - particularly to qualify for an extra work break - as poor strategy.

 

[wbcincy]

An older guy I worked with wanted to put a sign outside the pumping room that said "The Dairy." We talked him out of it.

 

[BobPSU92]

Tell the complainer she's lucky to still be working!

Kidding.....as others have advised, let HR deal with it.

You’re just lucky to be pumping breasts.

 

[CF LION]

My company has mother’s rooms in all our buildings for pumping. We allow them time to do it. We have pretty progressive benefits. We give 6 weeks paternity leave too. As for what to do since your company has no policy. Direct complainers to HR and encourage HR to publish a policy.

We are a small business, less than 50 employees. No HR group. It's not that we aren't accommodating her it's more an issue of dealing with those that think that are complaining about it.

 

[psuro]

People will complain about anything. You can’t get around it.

They want to be able to get away from their workspace just like those women pumping breasts or those guys outside smoking.

You have to find something that gives them some leeway to get away from their workspace. That seems to be your challenge.

 

[Cosmos]

Don’t answer that question without first talking to HR. Better yet let HR handle it.

^^ Hear, hear. That's what those geniuses in HR get paid for.

 

[pandaczar12]

35 people is way too many for one manager. I feel for you. I've had upwards of 25 and it was awful.

Are you employees unionized? If so, I'm sorry, but also get the union rep involved ASAP. I would sit down and review company policy, and explain to the complainers that the same breaks are available to them if they have a child. I think it would be worse if you had males complaining, so be happy it's other females.

Most importantly, document, document, document! Record everything that happens as close to real time as possible... names, dates, details.

On second thought, I would not discuss one employees situation with another. Just talk in general about the company policy and how it applies to all. Then document how that discussion went specifically!

 

[Norm Petersin]

Welcome to the world of cat fights. Let em go at it, might get a boob shot, lol

 

[Lyons212]

Equality is not just between genders anymore, it’s within gender.

Reminds me of when teenage me worked at a chain retail store and smokers would get extra breaks by management to feed their nic-fits. This pissed off the non-smokers and a friend of mine started smoking cigarillos to get the extra breaks too. After he stopped working there he stopped smoking.

Sounds like my father-in-law. When in the military he noticed that the smokers got smoke breaks when doing the grunt work like digging latrines, trenches, etc. He then took up smoking too...which definitely sheds some light on his decision making process all these years.

 

[Nitt1300]

 

[cment]

My company has mother’s rooms in all our buildings for pumping. We allow them time to do it. We have pretty progressive benefits. We give 6 weeks paternity leave too. As for what to do since your company has no policy. Direct complainers to HR and encourage HR to publish a policy.

We are a small business, less than 50 employees. No HR group. It's not that we aren't accommodating her it's more an issue of dealing with those that think that are complaining about it.

Do you have an employee handbook and is there a provision for “pumping” ? If not, get one pronto and your reply is “it is a company policy that applies to everyone”

 

[lionville]

We are a small business, less than 50 employees. No HR group. It's not that we aren't accommodating her it's more an issue of dealing with those that think that are complaining about it.

Tell the whiners to start smoking if they want a break.

 

[bytir]

We are incorporating Mother's rooms into all new corporate facilities, and by design they all must have a sink and small refrigerator. It isn't a code or federal requirement (yet) but is driven by HR groups typically. The person asking about an acceptable time frame is just ignorant. The same can be said for bathroom breaks, is that really where they want to go? An HR person one explained to me that they took down all suggestion boxes because it was just an anonymous way to bitch. They ask people that have a concern or complaint to please write it and sign it (no email) and turn it in so it can be placed in their file in case it is needed for future reference.

The bigger issue is if any of them ever says anything to the "pumper". That's a harassment claim waiting to happen.

 

[PSU95alum]

Tell the complainers, “maybe someday you’ll find someone desperate enough to knock you up and then you too can get your breast pumping breaks”. Problem solved. You will be looked at as a hero.

 

[Woodpecker]

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

There is no issue. You are accomodating a special need that the bitcher doesn't have. Tell her if she ever has the same need she will be treated the same way as the person that presently has the need. That is that.

 

[Bob78]

You can get guidance from HR, and the answer is rather simple anyway - providing that accommodation is the law (see the link posted in an early response).

However, managers need to understand and own the answer to the employee, not have it come from HR. If a manager defers to HR on an answer to an employee question, they lose some credibility in the longer run.

To me, making such an accommodation is just good business anyway - you don't want to lose a good employee over something rather easily resolved. The complainer on the other hand... regardless of how good an employee she is, she is possibly toxic to the workplace culture in the long run, and I would be far less worried about her feelings on how I handle a situation that is none of her business.

Treat everyone fairly, not necessarily equally. Good employees (in effort, outcomes, and overall cultural fit) get benefits of the doubt all the time. Others with issues in effort or fit, don't. Too bad. Some turnover is expected and is often for the good. Sort of like encouraging them to put their name in a transfer portal....

In the interview process, I like to use a simple evaluation from the employees who interview candidates:
1. CAN they do the job?
2. WILL they do the job?
3. Do they FIT into our desired culture?
All 3 points are of equal importance (Scale each 1 to 5, and talk through deviations to make sure people are seeing the same things and doing fair and legal interviews). Simple, but amazingly helpful for finding good employees and avoiding unwanted turnover.

The above assumes a non-union workplace.

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

We are a small business, less than 50 employees. No HR group. It's not that we aren't accommodating her it's more an issue of dealing with those that think that are complaining about it.

CF,

You are in a no-win situation here. Keep in mind that you should not/cannot tell the complainers anything about what the "pumper" is doing or why. If you feel the need to actually say something to these complainers, something along the following lines would probably keep you in the clear:

"Any and all absences/breaks are approved by management on a case-by-case basis in accordance with company policy/law and there will be no further comment or discussion about this matter. If there is a need for you to be excused for a period of time, please contact management individually to discuss."

 

[Pardlion]

..pumping.

I took a new job about a month ago and have about 35 people reporting to me. One of them just returned to work from maternity leave and pumps during the day. Others (primarily women) are now complaining to me that they don't get a similar break.

WTF...I never imagined I'd ever have to deal with this kind of pettiness. One female complainer actually asked me what I thought was a reasonable time to perform a breast pumping .

Any suggestions?

Just tell them they can’t have a similar break unless they have milk dripping out of their nipples.

 

[NittPicker]

There is no issue. You are accomodating a special need that the bitcher doesn't have. Tell her if she ever has the same need she will be treated the same way as the person that presently has the need. That is that.

That was my thinking too. Tell the complainers the new mother is doing all her assigned work (assuming she really is) and it's a company decision to give her a few extra minutes for pumping. That's it. Don't let the tail wag the dog. Inform them the same courtesy will be extended to any other mother in the office who is caring for a newborn.

For anyone who has worked in an office environment, you know hardly anyone sits at their desk for eight solid hours (minus lunch) doing nothing but work. Some of the work day is used for personal calls, texting, computer solitaire, etc. Don't alienate the complainers by accusing them of that but if their daily hours were analyzed, their actual working time wouldn't be much different from that of the pumper.

 

[interrobang]

Who the heck cares when she pumps. Is she getting her work done? Attending all required meetings and calls? That should be all that matters. Same goes for smokers, those browsing the internet, watching netflix, whatever.

If you're performing well as an employee, then all the side stuff should be irrelevant.