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Commission: Airline Discriminated Against Breast-feeding Mother

Montpelier, Vermont - March 27, 2008

The Vermont Human Rights Commission has ruled that Freedom Airlines discriminated against a woman when they removed her from a flight for breast-feeding her child.

Emily Gillette lives in New Mexico, but came to Vermont to hear firsthand the decision of the Human Rights Commission. Her story sparked outrage among nursing moms nationwide who staged "nurse-ins" at Delta counters all across the country.

Gillette and her family came to the Vermont Human Rights Commission Thursday to put a face on their case. The panel was set to decide whether Freedom and Delta airlines discriminated against her when she was removed from a flight departing the Burlington International Airport a year and a half ago.

"Shocked at first. Really shocked. But then really humiliated and embarrassed and sad. I mean I was really sad," says Gillette, who began to cry as she, her husband, and their 22-month-old daughter River-- who now has a baby brother-- began to depart the plane. They were forced to leave for refusing a flight attendant's order to cover the child's head with a blanket while she was breast-feeding.

"Outrageous. It was absolutely outrageous. To be told your breast feeding a child is an offensive thing to do-- which is what the flight attendant told her-- is outrageous," says Gillette's lawyer, Beth Boepple.

And not allowing it in public is also violation of Vermont's Public Accommodations Act. This is the first case of its kind in the state and according to attorney Boepple, could set a precedent.

"What the Human Rights Commission does with it and how they decide to fashion a remedy once we get past the next stage of the process-- which is a six-month period of trying to negotiate a settlement-- could in fact be precedent setting," she explains.

Gillette's presence wasn't required at Thursday's meeting, but she wanted commission members to see her in person -- and she wanted to say thanks.

"It was just important for us to show our gratitude for the state for the process that they've afforded us," says Gillette.

Now, the commission's findings were against Freedom Airlines only-- not Delta-- because the flight attendant was a Freedom employee. That airline argued that Vermont did not have jurisdiction in this case even though the plane was in Vermont at the time of the incident. Freedom has publicly apologized and disciplined the flight attendant.

If both parties are unable to fashion a settlement over the next six months, the Human Rights Commission can then file a civil suit against the airline.

Bridget Barry Caswell - WCAX News