Lawsuit: Columbia tourism group denied employee ability to breastfeed baby
A former official with Columbia’s tourism group is now suing her former employer, alleging she was discriminated against because of her need to breastfeed her newborn baby.
Experience Columbia SC is facing a suit filed in a South Carolina courtroom on Aug. 22 by former events director Ashleigh Conner. In the suit, Conner alleges discrimination after returning from maternity leave in 2018. She says the tourism entity denied her the ability to breastfeed her newborn and canceled a conference trip because she wanted to take her family with her.
Conner said she had to leave her job because of her treatment after 15 years with Experience Columbia, and is now suing for sex discrimination.
In the lawsuit, Conner says she was denied a bonus she qualified for after she returned from maternity leave, and her supervisors made inappropriate comments about her pumping in the office to breastfeed her child.
When she told her supervisor she was taking her family with her to an out-of-town training course so she could continue to breastfeed, she was told children were not allowed at the resort holding the event, the lawsuit says, and that she was reprimanded when she reached out to the organization holding the course about accommodations for nursing mothers.
Her registration at the event was canceled. Conner says she was later told by the organizers her needs could have been accommodated had they been informed.
Conner says she felt compelled to resign before the end of the year.
Beth Bowen, Conner’s attorney, said the suit “stands for the protection of women’s core constitutional rights to employment without fear of discrimination or retaliation based on pregnancy.”
“The facts in this case are egregious, and we look forward to correcting this wrong to the extent possible and to prevent similar future injustices,” Bowen said.
Experience Columbia is the promotional name used by the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism, the nonprofit that promotes tourism in South Carolina’s capital city.
When reached for comment, Experience Columbia attorney David Dubberly said the group’s policy is not to comment on pending litigation.
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