Woman sues after work force her to pump breast milk on dirty floor with jeering men ogling her

By James Nye

Published: 20:20 EST, 7 November 2013 | Updated: 20:20 EST, 7 November 2013

A Pennsylvania factory worker has filed a lawsuit this week claiming she was forced to pump breast milk on a filthy floor covered in dead bugs during work hours and that the stress caused her to stop producing altogether.

Bobbi Bockoras, who works at French firm Saint-Gobain Containers' glass factory in Port Allegany alleges that when she requested a sanitary place to pump, her superiors offered her unsanitary rooms, allowed male co-workers to heckle her and changed her shifts when she complained.

The company, which does business as Verallia North America, declined comment on the allegations but says it's 'committed to providing a respectful workplace.'

Allegations: Bobbi Bockoras works at Saint-Gobain Containers' glass factory in Port Allegany. She says that when she requested a place to pump milk for her baby (right) she was severely discriminated against

Bockoras filed a federal lawsuit and a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She's represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Bockoras said Thursday in a news release 'I never thought that I would be punished on the job for doing what I feel is best for my baby.'

According to new stipulations of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, new mothers are required to be allowed a reasonable amount of time as unpaid breaks to pump milk during work hours.

The law states that the area offered must be clean and not in view of any other employees and must be on offer for the first year after giving birth.

Bockoras alleges Saint-Gobain Containers' glass factory in Port Allegany directed her to this unsanitary room with no chair to pump her breast milk

However, Bockoras, a six-year veteran of the Sanit Gobain Verallia plant said she requested a private room but was sent to the bathroom.

She found this to be disgusting and compained so was sent to the first aid room where male staff members would regularly heckle and harass her.

However, from there Bockoras says she was sent to a room with glass walls and no lock on the door and then to a filthy shower room which had dead bugs on the floor.

'I eventually agreed to use an old locker room, even though it was filthy, because at least it had a lock on the door – and they said they’d clean it up,' said Bockoras. 

Under fire: The company, which does business as Verallia North America, declined comment on the allegations but says it's "committed to providing a respectful workplace."

'But when I showed up to pump there a few days later, I found that the room had not been cleaned: it was covered in dirt and dead bugs, the floor was unfinished and had large patches missing from it, and there was no air conditioning – which is serious, because temperatures can get up to 106 degrees on the factory floor.'

To make matters worse, colleagues decided it was funny to grease the door knob to this last room and when she complained they changed her shifts to nights and early mornings.

After ten weeks on rotating shifts she began to fail to produce milk and that was when she reached out to the ACLU who took on her case pro bono and filed the suit for an undisclosed sum against Saint Gobain Verallia.