A 33-year-old Mililani woman has sued her former employer and supervisor for allegedly being denied the right to use a breast pump at work to express milk for her then 4-month-old son.

Katherine Manalo, in a complaint filed May 12 in 1st Circuit Court against The Shack Mililani and its manager Andrew Lindberg, alleges he and the company violated labor laws and her civil rights, and engaged in unlawful sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, among other things.

According to the complaint, Manalo, who had worked as a bartender since May 2008 for The Shack Mili­lani, asked her co-worker on June 5, 2021, to cover for her while she pumped her breast milk for her baby, Kaeo Lalli, who is now 16 months old.

She then asked Lindberg, her supervisor, for keys to the upstairs office so she could pump in private, to which Lindberg responded, “Why are you the only one to do this?” the complaint alleges.

Ten minutes later Lindberg knocked on the door, saying the co-worker didn’t know how to make a certain drink, so she needed to go downstairs. Manalo complied.

Another co-worker told Manalo how Lindberg told her that he did not believe a pregnant woman or a woman who had just given birth should be working behind the bar, the complaint says.

At 7 p.m. that same day, at the end of her shift, Lindberg allegedly discussed with her in the presence of another co-worker that he did not understand how breast pumping works and asked whether she could “time it better.”

He then allegedly posed hypothetical situations, implying Manalo should only breast-pump under certain hypothetical conditions or circumstances, and alleg­ed­ly talked about demoting her by saying, “I’m trying to figure out how/whether you should be behind the bar or on the floor.”

Manalo left that day, never to return. The complaint alleges the company and Lindberg “created a work environment so intolerable that a reasonable person could not be expected to continue working.”

It alleges the actions violated her civil rights by subjecting her to a hostile work environment and discriminated against her because of her gender and/or because she was expressing milk at the workplace.

It alleges the company violated state law by failing to provide Manalo with reasonable break time to express milk for her nursing child and by failing to post a notice to keep employees informed of the protections and obligations.

The complaint also alleges the defendants’ actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, that Lindberg violated her right to privacy and inflicted emotional distress by talking about breast-pumping in front of other workers.

Lindberg said the “(Hawaii) Civil Rights Commission dismissed this claim three months ago, and we strenuously deny any merits to these allegations whatsoever.”

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s dismissal of the complaint was not a dismissal on its merits.

Rather, the EEOC, which works hand in hand with the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, said the matter would no longer remain with the agency for investigation, and granted Manalo the right to sue.

“The courts require an exhaustion of administrative remedies” before a complainant can sue, HCRC Executive Director Bill Hoshijo said.

Amid the ongoing crisis of the dearth of infant formula, Manalo’s attorney, Andrew Stewart, said, “Maybe if employers complied with the law and allowed mothers to pump at work, we would not be so reliant on baby formula.”

Mari McClenney, who heads La Leche League of Oahu, said, “I’m shocked to hear her employer is giving her a hard time.”

She said it is harder for a mom to pump than to breastfeed because “you don’t have a baby stimulating the breast. It’s harder to achieve a letdown, which is when the milk comes out of the breast.”

McClenney said if that process is interrupted, it can interfere with letdown, and stress means there is no oxytocin, which makes it harder to produce milk.

“You can’t rush the body,” she said. “Every woman’s body works differently to release milk, especially since pump is artificial. It can’t be timed.”

She said La Leche offers peer-to-peer support for women experiencing difficulty with milk supply when pumping.

“It’s been rough,” said McClenney, referring to the latest difficulties with infant formula supplies.

She said many mothers are doing “breast milk and combo feed with formula.”

“We’ve been getting a lot of inquiries from moms who need formula,” McClenney said. “We’re trying to find ways to increase their milk supply. Definitely uncertain times, which are causing a lot of families a lot of stress.”