According to the lawsuit, Tomlinson, the executive director, criticized Delo at a meeting for bringing her infant daughter on a company tour to Washington. At the meeting, the lawsuit says, Tomlinson said that the company had a strict “separation of church and state” on family matters and that children were barred from any work space because they could be distracting.
In the lawsuit, Delo said her husband, who also worked for the company, did not face similar criticism when he brought their daughter to the office. Delo brought her daughter on eight company tours, according to Wigdor, the New York firm representing her. Marine, who helped hire Delo, corroborated some of her account in an interview, saying that she recalled hearing Tomlinson speak dismissively of Delo and calling her a “liability” because she was a mother.
After a couple of months in the job, the lawsuit says, Delo inquired about the company’s policies on pumping breast milk in the office and provided a copy of New York State laws on the rights of nursing mothers. “I have no concerns about it, our company has no policy applicable to it, and our company is fine with your actions and New York State’s laws,” Tomlinson responded in an email. Still, Delo said the company failed to provide a private space for her to pump.
Not long after the email exchange, in what Delo viewed as an act of retaliation, Tomlinson interrupted her while she was pumping milk at her desk, according to the lawsuit. Delo said Tomlinson brought repairmen into the area and at one point reached over her to make a phone call. She said Tomlinson’s actions had caused her anxiety and made it difficult for her to express milk.
“I felt like I was failing not just in my work, but I was failing as a mother because I wasn’t able to feed my daughter,” she said in the interview.
Delo said she was never given a reason for her dismissal beyond that she was not a good fit for the job. It is important, she said, for dance companies to do more to protect and support women.
“We’ve got to work to change the culture,” she said. “We have to allow people to come do the best work they can do, regardless of who they are, regardless of their gender, regardless of their status as a parent.”
