By Police1 Staff
QUEENS, NY — An NYPD officer is suing the department after ‘unsanitary’ conditions forced her to pump breast milk in front of others, according to ABC 7.
Officer Simone Teagle, 37, alleges she was forced to pump in front of coworkers and faced harassment so degrading that she tried pumping fewer times a day, which left her in pain and with an infection.
Teagle also alleges she was harassed by supervising officers for needing to pump multiple times a day, ABC 7 reported.
“I would go to the desk and ask for a break and they would ask, ‘Well, how long do you need a break for’ or ‘How long does this take’ or ‘How long is this gonna be,’” Teagle said.
When her complaints to supervising officers and two official complaints filed with the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity were not formally addressed, Teagle contacted an attorney, who filed a $5 million claim against the city for federal and state law violations.
The NYPD announced Monday it is taking measures to provide clean, private accommodations for nursing officers.
“[In] every department facility there is supposed to be a place where that can be done,” NYPD Police Commissioner James O’Neill told ABC 7.
The department also emphasized existing department policy that requires all precincts to provide a “private room or office that is not a bathroom which can provide an employee with the requested privacy.”
Teagle has been reassigned to another precinct.