A breastfeeding teacher has won a sexual harassment case after her school 'humiliated' her by making her express milk in the toilets or the car park. Tara Mellor repeatedly asked bosses for a room in which she could express milk to give her newborn daughter after work, an employment tribunal heard.
But her requests were ignored and she was 'forced' to do it either in the car park or the 'often dirty' toilets during her lunch break. The tribunal heard this 25 minute break meant she would often also have to eat her lunch in the toilets, which she found 'unhygienic' and 'disgusting'.
Now, Ms Mellor has won a sexual harassment case after an employment judge ruled her school gave her 'no choice' but to resort to the 'humiliating' measures. The Hull tribunal heard Ms Mellor taught Citizenship at the Mirfield Free Grammar School in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.
The school is part of the MFG Academies Trust, which runs three schools in the area. In 2018 Ms Mellor fell pregnant with her first child, and left on maternity leave until her return in January 2019.
After returning to work, her partner would bring the baby into school so she could breastfeed the child in specified, private rooms which she later used to express milk. In September 2019 Ms Mellor told the school she was pregnant again, and asked to work three days a week instead of full time when she returned from maternity leave.
The tribunal also heard she requested 'access to a room to enable me to express regularly'. She gave birth to a daughter in April 2020 and, in June, again asked for a room to breastfeed and express in from September.
However, due to coronavirus safeguarding rules Ms Mellor was told breastfeeding her baby on site was 'not an option'. The panel was told she had a meeting in June with her line manager, Nicola Horodczuk, in which she said her 'breasts would feel really uncomfortable' if she wasn't able to express, and that she would 'need a room' to do so.
When the autumn term began in September, the tribunal heard teachers were 'free to go' where they liked but children were to stay in their classrooms, to limit the number of people moving around the school. The school argued that this meant there were 'many rooms' which were 'out of use' - though this point was rejected by the tribunal.
During her first weeks back, the tribunal heard Ms Mellor was in 'significant pain' due to not being able to express during the day and completed just three days teaching before she went off sick with 'debility'. Ms Mellor told the school her absence was related to mastitis - the swelling of a gland in the breast usually caused by an infection.
She returned at the end of the month, making another request for a 'place to express'. The tribunal heard she then began using 'the toilets or her car' during her lunch break to express.
It heard her lunch break was a mere 25 minutes and it took her 20 minutes to express so she 'realistically had no choice but to eat her lunch at the same time'. It was told she 'more often' used the toilet than her car, as it was 'too cold' and she risked 'being seen by pupils and others' walking past.
Ms Mellor told the tribunal: "I found it unhygienic and disgusting to have to express in the toilets, which were often dirty."
The tribunal also heard Ms Mellor was concerned about 'leaking' during lessons, which happened around 'five times' when she didn't have time to express.
She stopped going into work to shield from November 6 and, after returning to work nine days before Christmas, was 'again' required to express in the toilets - despite having made yet another request for a private room. Ms Mellor told the tribunal she believed the MFG Academies Trust had a 'negative attitude' towards pregnancies.
The Trust argued she 'would have raised a grievance' with the company if she had had a 'real issue with a place to express'. However, Employment Judge Richard Miller ruled Ms Mellor was left with 'no other choice' than to express in her car or the toilets.
Judge Miller said: "As Ms Mellor reasonably and genuinely felt compelled to act in a way that she did not want to, she was, we find, forced to do so. Ms Mellor genuinely and reasonably had no choice but to use the toilets or her car to express.
"This is because she had made the school/trust aware on a number of occasions that she needed somewhere to go to express. Nowhere was provided. The conduct of the [Trust] had the effect of creating an degrading and/or humiliating environment for Ms Mellor."
Ms Mellor's claims of sexual harassment were successful, and a remedy hearing will be held to decide how much compensation she is paid. Her other claims of sexual discrimination failed.
