Nursing Mom Was Leered At, Bullied By Sun Country Airlines: Lawsuit

MINNEAPOLIS — A former Sun Country Airlines employee filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the Minneapolis-based company of violating her rights under state law to pump breast milk and not be harassed and discriminated against at work.

According to the lawsuit, the airline failed repeatedly to provide Hani Ali an adequate place to pump and store milk to feed her new baby. During this time, one coworker leered at her through a window as she pumped, Ali claims. She was also harassed over the time she needed for pumping breaks, according to the lawsuit.

The airline also denied her opportunities for desirable work assignments specifically because of her need for pumping breaks, the lawsuit claims.

Ali is being represented by Gender Justice and Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP. She is seeking damages for lost wages, emotional distress, and mental anguish. The lawsuit also demands an injunction to ensure that Sun Country and other airlines will not subject other new parents to similar treatment.

"No one should be punished or retaliated against at work for pumping milk to keep their newborn fed," said Ali said in a statement. "The way I was treated as a new mother at work was wrong, and I want to make sure it never happens to anyone else again."

The lawsuit claims that Sun Country violated Ali’s rights to be protected from discrimination and reprisal under the Minnesota Women’s Economic Security Act, and it violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act’s prohibition against sex discrimination in employment and retaliation against employees who assert their rights under the law.

Ali was hired onto Sun Country’s customer service team at the Minneapolis International Airport in September 2021, five months after giving birth to her and her husband’s second child, according to the lawsuit.

The airline knew when it hired her that she would need a place to pump breast milk, Ali claims. But before her first shift, she was told there was no designated nursing room and that she should use the baggage claim office, a high-traffic area with large windows on the walls and doors, the lawsuit states.

Two months later, Ali — a practicing Muslim who needed to remove her hijab during pumping breaks — noticed her male coworker staring at her through one of the windows, the lawsuit claims.

Despite her efforts to wave him away, he continued to look at her while she was exposed and actively pumping, according to Ali. The coworker alerted a male manager, who came and demanded that Ali use a public restroom instead, despite her supervisors’ instructions to use the baggage claim room, the lawsuit states.

The two men subsequently filed a complaint with the company’s human resources department against Ali, who was then told she could no longer enter the baggage claim office for any reason, according to the lawsuit.

According to Ali, she was left without a working refrigerator in which to store her breast milk and the only place to go when she needed to pump was a public nursing area inside the terminal, which she could only access by passing through security.

The process to arduous process added up to 20 minutes of travel time to her pumping breaks and required security checks of her breast pump and the ice-filled thermos she now needed to carry to keep her milk cool enough to be safe for her baby, the lawsuit states.

"As these forced inconveniences added to the length of Ali’s pumping breaks, her coworkers’ resentment and hostility increased right along with them," states Gender Justice.

"Supervisors stopped scheduling her to work inside the terminal — closer to the only place Ali could pump — and, when she asked one of them why, told her specifically that it was because of her pumping. Meanwhile, Ali’s repeated requests for intervention by Sun Country’s human resources team produced no improvements and inadequate communication from the airline’s administration."

As a result of the bullying and inaction of Sun Country’s human resources team, Ali resigned in March 2022, the lawsuit states.

"Sun Country Airlines responded to a mother’s entirely reasonable requests for a place to pump and store milk for her new baby with a relentless campaign of bullying, discrimination, and retaliation that left her no choice but to leave a job she wanted to keep," said Sara Jane Baldwin, senior staff attorney for Gender Justice.

“With this lawsuit, we’re putting Sun Country and all employers on notice that Minnesota’s strong protections for women in the workplace will be enforced and that the reprehensible treatment endured by this new mother will not be tolerated anywhere."

Read the full lawsuit here.

A spokesperson for Sun Country Airlines declined to comment on the lawsuit.