Some of you may remember the case of Emily Gillette, who was kicked off a Delta/Freedom Airlines plane for breastfeeding in 2007. It lead to protests at Delta counters at many airports around the country.
The Burlington Free Press reported then:
Gillette said that's when a flight attendant approached her, trying to hand her a blanket and directing her to cover up. Gillette said she told the attendant she was exercising her legal right to breast-feed, declining the blanket. That's when Gillette alleges the attendant told her, "You are offending me," and told her to cover up her daughter's head with the blanket.
"I declined," Gillette said in her complaint.
Moments later, a Delta ticket agent approached the Gillettes and said that the flight attendant was having the family removed from the flight.
Gillette said she didn't raise her voice -- not wanting to make a scene in the current jumpy air travel atmosphere -- and complied with the ticket agent, crying as she exited the plane.
In 2008 the Vermont Human Rights Commission found that Freedom Airlines had discriminated against Gillette. Though the flight Gillette was taking was a code-share between Delta Airlines and Freedom Airlines, the Commission did not charge Delta with discrimination. The parties were given six months in which to reach a settlement agreement.
According to the Burlington Free Press, negotiations to reach a settlement collapsed, and Gillette filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
Want more information on breastfeeding and the law? Check out this podcast interview with Jake Marcus, J.D.
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