Fired Casey County teacher claims breastfeeding retaliation by district in lawsuit

LIBERTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – A special education teacher in Casey County is suing in federal court, claiming the school district didn’t accommodate her need to pump breast milk for her baby and ultimately fired her, according to the lawsuit.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green by Jessica Childers against the Casey County Board of Education, Superintendent Barry Lee and Jones Park Elementary School Principal Daran Wall.

Childers was teaching at the school when her baby was born during the 2020-21 academic year.  Barry Lee was director of special education at the time, according to the lawsuit.

Childers claims in the suit she asked school officials several times to provide her with enough time and a place to express milk at school, but they did not.

She alleges in the suit that a supervisor in the school district told her it wouldn’t work for her to express milk while at work.

“We don’t pay you to do nothing,” the supervisor allegedly told Childers.

The lawsuit alleges Childers was given limited time to pump milk; her planning period time was reduced by Lee; and Wall required her to produce a doctor’s statement about her need to express milk.

The lawsuit also claims Lee complained that Childers wasn’t doing her job in filing an evaluation on a child, even though she was on leave at the time.

She also claims Wall unlocked the door to her classroom and came in during her pumping session, which was blocked off her schedule and had been shared with Wall.

Childers says in the lawsuit that a custodian also barged into her classroom while she was expressing milk.

Childers says in the suit that Wall gave her a bad evaluation and she was fired April 6, 2021.

Childers is seeking more than $2 million in damages, according to the lawsuit.

A law has been on the books in Kentucky since 2006 giving mothers the right to breastfeed or express milk in any location, according to the state.