By C1 Staff
HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — A corrections officer who alleges that work conditions caused her to miscarry one of her twins has settled for $150,000 from Hudson County.
But Yvonne Coleman-Davis isn’t through with them yet, according to NJ.com. Part of her settlement came with the agreement to “establish an area in which breastfeeding females may have an area for the expression of milk,” but Coleman-Davis is claiming the county reneged on that part of the deal.
She originally sued the county in 2012 for not being reassigned from working closely with inmates during her pregnancy. The pregnancy, twins, was already considered high risk.
Her requests to be reassigned continued to be ignored even after she miscarried one of the twins. Three months later, an inmate kicked her in the abdomen. Coleman-Davis alleges that one of her superiors refused to allow her to go to the hospital until she filled out incident reports.
That same month, she filed her lawsuit in federal court, accusing the county of violating state discrimination laws and federal labor regulations. She gave birth to a girl in October 2012.
The suit was settled in April 2014 with a lump sum of $150,000. The county also agreed to implement one policy that would require the county to make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers and another policy that would allow breastfeeding mothers to pump.
Coleman-Davis returned to work after giving birth, but the county refused to let her bring her breast pump to work or allow her to express milk during her shift.
President Obama’s healthcare overhaul requires employers with more than 50 workers to provide such a space, “other than a bathroom.”
According to Coleman-Davis’s attorney, Gayle Loftis, the policies the county drafted in response to the settlement are inadequate because they do not establish an area inside the DOC for breastfeeding women to express milk.
Loftis has been battling the county over revising the new policy since last month, but they won’t budge.
“It says to me that the county is not willing to abide by the agreements that they’ve reached and they’re just going through this to go through the motions.
“No substance, no teeth, it’s just a covering.”