oneA healthcare worker suffered "sexually related harassment" because an NHS health board failed to provide her with a suitable private space for milking, an employment judge has ruled.
Robyn Gibbins told the employment tribunal she was let down by Cardiff's trust when she was not given a lockable room. A spokesman for the trust said Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is committed to ensuring all colleagues are treated with respect, dignity and without discrimination or bias.
Dozens of mothers have shared their experiences of expressing breast milk at work to The Guardian. Around half of women feel their workplaces do not have adequate facilities, with many feeling embarrassed to ask for a suitable room. Those who have accessed such services say standards are sometimes poor, with spaces ranging from shower rooms to offices with leaking roofs. Others fear being interrupted, with some women giving up pumping altogether and becoming "in tears" at not being able to breastfeed their babies for longer.
Others, however, said they felt strongly supported by their employers.
Here are three stories from women with varying experiences of pumping in the workplace, and how they feel about the facilities available.
I work in a big office, and when I returned to work last January, I thought there would be a place for me to express myself. I wish I could store milk and take it home to my daughter, but when I discovered I could only do it in the toilet, I decided to "pump and dump." A year later and I'm still doing it.
I started pumping twice a day for 20 minutes each time but have now reduced that to once a day. If I had a private space with a sink, I could keep working, but I was wasting my time going to the toilet to clean my breast pump. I suffer from mastitis frequently and I think it's because I can't express myself the way I want to on a regular basis.
I recently found out there is a return-to-work program for parents, but my boss didn't tell me about it. I don't think he knew this, nor did it occur to me that I might need a suitable place to express it. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed asking this question, but it is.
I feel like there is a real lack of understanding in some workplaces, and some don't even realize it at all. It was so hard coming back to work after having a baby. There's a lot of pressure to get back to where you were when you left, which is very difficult when you don't have sleep. Sophie, 37, works in publishing in London
I think my employer will be very supportive because they are a large university that often talks about their positive values. Before I return to work at the end of 2023, I told them I wanted a private place to express my feelings, assuming somewhere would provide that. But when I came back, the room I was given had no lock and just a slider sign to indicate if it was empty or booked.
Even though I indicated that the room was occupied while I was pumping, people kept coming in. This is really embarrassing. When I held the door up, someone suggested writing my name on the door to say what I was doing. I might as well say it publicly!
There was also nowhere to clean the pump so I had to do it in the shared kitchen which didn't even have soap - I had to ask. I also store milk in the refrigerator and someone in the office said they didn't want my milk to leak on their sandwiches. I was so surprised, as if no one had ever had to milk milk before.
A few months later another locked room was found in another building that I could use. At that time, I had given up expressing milk for my daughter because I was too busy at work and could only express a small amount of milk. I wanted to express it for longer, but it didn't seem worth it anymore. I felt there was a real lack of empathy and they didn't listen to my needs - I was just ignored. The whole thing made me feel very uncomfortable. Anne, 37, works in higher education in the Midlands
I was one of the lucky ones because my workplace was very supportive when I returned to work last March. A week before I was officially going back, I mentioned that I was going to express milk and wanted to make sure I had time to do it.
They assigned me a locked private room for my expression and I could get the key from reception. It had a blind, a chair and a table which meant I could pump discreetly and comfortably. They also provided me with a refrigerator that I could use to store stuff and marked it "Medical Use Only" after I worried that someone would see my milk while eating lunch and I would be embarrassed.
After three months of urinating I told reception I no longer needed to use it but they said other women were returning from maternity leave soon and they would leave it as is.
I think it helps because most of the staff in HR are women and they understand that you shouldn't go to the toilet to urinate because it's dirty and unhygienic. Sarah, 38, works in manufacturing in Berkshire