Supreme Court lets stand ruling that firing woman for breastfeeding not sexist since men can lactate

The Supreme Court has declined to overturn a lower court's ruling that an insurance company was within bounds when it fired a breastfeeding mother. The woman's suit was dismissed by the Eighth Circuit Court on the grounds that firing a woman for breastfeeding isn't sexist because men can lactate, too.

The ACLU's Galen Sherwin wrote Monday that former Nationwide Insurance Company employee Angela Ames sued her employer when she returned from maternity leave to find that no allowances had been made to enable her to pump breast milk for her baby during the day.
When Ames asked her supervisor for accommodations that would enable her to express milk and store it for her child, the supervisor reportedly responded that Ames should "go home and be with your babies" instead. That supervisor went on to dictate a letter of resignation to Ames that day, effectively forcing her to resign.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Nationwide and the Eighth Circuit Court, denying Ames' petition for a review of her case's dismissal. The trial court's decision - which the Circuit Court upheld - said that for Nationwide's firing of Ames for taking time to express milk at work could not have been sexist because under certain circumstances, some men can lactate, too.

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