A new mother has filed a lawsuit against Chicago’s Daley Center for allegedly being discriminated for breast pumping before attending jury duty.
Judith Miller's first big outing away from her then 11-week-old son was going to be to jury duty at the Daley Center.
“I was really excited,” Miller said. “I know that a lot of people don’t want to serve on a jury, I’m fully aware of that but it’s important.”
As a lawyer and law professor herself, she researched and saw that the Daley Center offered a lactation room.
When she asked about it however, she said she did not receive a response.
Her only other options were to either go home or use the men’s restroom since it had the only working outlet.
"That is absurd…It doesn’t even make sense,” Miller expressed. “What was going to happen? The men were going to parade past me or I was going to shut down the men’s room for a half an hour?”
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She had to go home.
Now, Miller along with the ACLU is filing a lawsuit against the Daley Center for pregnancy discrimination.
NBC 5 reached out to the Circuit Court of Cook County for comment but did not get a response.
Other mothers agreed on the difficulty that is to find places to breastfeed or pump.
Kate Dalin is a mother of two who agrees that it is a struggle.
“I will just tell you, sitting on a toilet and breastfeeding your infant is terrible,” Dalin said.
Miller says she just wants to see the Daley Center facilitate a clean and safe space for women to breastfeed or pump so they too, can participate in their civic duty.
The lawsuit is currently being reviewed by state investigators.
