The ACLU of Illinois represented Judith Miller, a breastfeeding parent who was denied the opportunity to serve on a jury for the Circuit Court of Cook County because she needed accommodations to pump breast milk.
Because of her training as a trial attorney, Ms. Miller knows the important role that juries play in the justice system. When she was called for jury duty, she was eager to perform this civic duty. She reported for jury service at the Daley Center in Chicago on October 2, 2017 and immediately asked at the jury service desk about a space she could use to pump breast milk. The clerk told Ms. Miller that the only space available for her to use was the men’s restroom, because the women’s restroom did not have the electrical outlet necessary to operate her breast pump. However, the men’s restroom was not an option, as men would need to use that facility, and, more importantly, a bathroom is not an appropriate space for handling food for a baby.
The Daley Center’s website stated that a designated lactation room was available for jurors; however, the clerk told Ms. Miller that he could not reach anyone who could provide access to that room. For approximately two hours, Ms. Miller sought accommodations to express breast milk but was denied access to any private, non-bathroom space where she could pump. Faced with the choice of either pumping in a men’s restroom or going home, Ms. Miller reluctantly agreed to be excused from jury service.
We filed charges with the Illinois Department of Human Rights on Ms. Miller’s behalf, alleging discrimination under the public accommodations provisions of the Illinois Human Rights Act, based on the denial of a reasonable accommodation for Ms. Miller to express breast milk when she was at the Circuit Court of Cook County courthouse at the Daley Center. We then continued to represent Ms. Miller in complaints of discrimination before the Illinois Human Rights Commission. Ultimately we reached a settlement in which Cook County and the Office of the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court agreed to ensure private lactation spaces are available at all Circuit Court of Cook County courthouses, staff receive training, and information is available to the public about the location and accessibility of lactation spaces.
