Breastfeeding is not an explicit reason for sidestepping jury duty in Florida. Although a mother who does not work full time and who cares for a young child has a legally valid excuse, a full-time working mother who breastfeeds is bound to jury duty, unless a judge agrees otherwise.
"If you're a breastfed baby in Broward County and your mom is called for jury duty, she will be told to prepare your meal in a disgusting public bathroom," says Tracy Volaric, a nursing mother.
For her, pumping twice a day at work is never a problem, but the Broward
County Courthouse proved another story. Volaric was told there was an
outlet in the restroom where she could plug in her pump. She walked into
the "typical dirty dirty public restroom" and found the only outlet
next to the overflowing trash can by the door.
Volaric told
courthouse employees she would not pump in the restroom and says
several of them shrugged off her request for a more appropriate
location. She was offered a cleaner and more private office space
only after she asked for the names of the people she considered rude and
unhelpful.
Last year, a bill was introduced that would excuse
mothers nursing children under 2 years old from jury duty, but the
bill never became a law. At least 12 states explicitly excuse
breastfeeding mothers from jury duty, but Florida does so only if
someone can show "hardship, extreme inconvenience, or public necessity,"
the catch-all excuse that can, conceivably, include breastfeeding.
Volaric didn't try to apply these conditions to her situation because
she didn't think it would be such an unpleasant issue.
Florida is
one of 44 states that have laws allowing women to breastfeed in
any private or public location. But this doesn't mean women are
comfortable pumping in the corner of a courthouse bathroom -- or, for
that matter, in a courthouse hallway, jury room, or parking lot.
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