A Nampa woman sues her former employer and says her management at a Home Depot in Nampa did not allow her to take breaks to express breast milk.
Randi Allred spent four years at Home Depot, including in Meridian and Nampa, before being forced to resign and demanding unsustainable working conditions, according to a lawsuit filed Monday against the business.
According to court documents obtained from the Idaho Press Tribune, Allred said he should not take any breaks to express his breast milk, even though he had provided his supervisor with a medical note with recommendations for the breaks.
"We disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit," said Matt Harrigan, company spokesman for Home Depot, in an email to the Idaho Press Tribune.
In January 2015, Allred started working in the Nampa store. She gave birth to her son Cayden on October 11, 2016 and returned to work on January 6.
According to the complaint, Cayden was diagnosed with allergies to soy milk and cow's milk and had to be breastfed. Allred said that her then manager, Josh Hazlett, did not allow her to take any breaks to spend her breast milk for storage and scheduled shifts for 10 hours seven days a week. Despite several attempts to negotiate, Allred said in her lawsuit that Hazlett had refused to meet her need for regular interruptions, which according to the lawsuit violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
Hazlett could not be reached for comment. Another store manager in Nampa, Amo MartÃnez, said the store has no comments.
Allred seeks $ 75,000 in damages and $ 2,340 in holiday pay, which she allegedly did not pay, according to her complaint.
According to court records, Allred had sent a message from the doctor to Hazlett stating that he needed extra pauses by October 11, about 30 minutes every three hours to express his breast milk.
After receiving medical certificates, the company's Medical, Health Management informed him that he should work with Hazlett to include the arrangement in his schedule as needed. Hazlett rejected the request according to the lawsuit. Allred said in her complaint that Hazlett was unwilling to discuss changes to her schedule and did not respond to her text messages asking for changes.
Allred kept on working but, according to his complaint, got pain and discomfort. His mother's milk started to dry, he said.
On January 27, Allred organized a meeting with Hazlett to explain his needs, which, according to the documents, "expressed no understanding or concern about the seriousness of his condition."
Allred resigned on January 30th. Before he left, he demanded the payment of two weeks of unused vacations. She finds that she contacted Hazlett several times in the following months, but was never compensated.
Home Depot has until December 19 to respond to the complaint. She was unable to contact Allred lawyer, Shelly Cozakos for comment.