Haley Gentle paced the waiting room at the obstetrician’s office and reread the cryptic text message from her boss.

Just three words: Will talk tomorrow.

They looked ominous.

The workplace can be a minefield for women who have children. Even though most mothers in America hold jobs outside the home, they risk losing those jobs when they get pregnant, or take maternity leave, or need to pump breastmilk.

Haley, 26, had just come out of a postpartum checkup with her obstetrician, six weeks after giving birth to her daughter. The doctor had told her she needed physical therapy for a pelvic injury that occurred during the birth.

She’d be able to return to work in another two weeks, he said.

Haley tapped out a text message to her boss at the Huntsville medical imaging company where she did billing and coding. She explained the situation, and tried to end on a positive note: Missing you guys like crazy, so ready to be back to work.

After a brief back-and-forth with her boss via text message – including Haley sending a picture of the signed doctor’s note, clearing her to return to work in two weeks – the reply came: Will talk tomorrow.

She knew something was wrong.

Less than a week later, she lost her job.

Many states have started to pick up where federal law falls short, passing laws to better protect jobs for mothers. Alabama isn’t one of them. That leaves women like Haley – and by extension, their families – with few barriers between themselves and financial crisis.

‘Labor’ force

If you’re a woman with kids, you’re more than likely working.

About 70 percent of women in the United States who have children under age 18 are in the labor force, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In Alabama, even brand-new mothers are more likely to be employed than not. In 2017, three out of every five Alabama women who’d been pregnant within the past year were in the workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimates. That’s a slightly higher rate than the national average.

And more than half of all states – including Southern states like Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina and this year, Kentucky – have laws that specifically protect the rights of pregnant workers and nursing moms. Alabama has no laws beyond federal statutes.

Back to work

In the end, it wasn’t just those two extra weeks of unpaid leave that cost Haley her job.

After she asked for the time off, her boss sent her a letter on official letterhead, saying that she had to return on March 6 like she’d originally planned, if she wanted “to continue employment” at the company.

She needed the job; they were a two-income household. Haley felt like she had no choice. So she agreed to come back on March 6, against her doctor’s recommendation.

Her employer told AL.com he declined to comment at this time, citing the ongoing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission case involving his company and Gentle.

Federal statutes guarantee some basic protections in Alabama. Most come from the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which requires employers to give pregnant workers the same treatment they give to other workers who aren’t pregnant but have some kind of disability.

The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain medical and family reasons, including childbirth. But federal restrictions – such as the number of employees at a company – and gaps in enforcement mean some women, like Haley, have to choose between maternity leave and keeping their jobs.

Haley Gentle, a mother of two in North Alabama, lost her job following the birth of her daughter, after she says she requested an extra two weeks of unpaid maternity leave, and later requested time to pump breast milk at work. Here she's pictured holding her daughter while at her son's tee-ball game. (Photo by Bob Miller

Can’t pump

After Haley agreed to come back to work, she asked her boss if she could have a couple of 20-minute breaks during the workday to pump breastmilk. One of those pump times could be during her lunch break, she said.

She had a quiet, hands-free pump so that she could continue working at her computer while pumping. Her job was in a closed-door office with one other employee, a woman, who said she didn’t mind, Haley said.

Her boss refused. I do have an issue with the pumping, he texted her. You will be able to do it on your lunch hour but not during work time.

What I allow for you I would have to allow for others.

That was the moment Haley decided to learn about her rights.

‘Reasonable accommodation’

She was infuriated. Her boss’s limit on when she could pump breastmilk would essentially mean Haley would no longer be able to breastfeed her daughter.

She called Glenni Lorick, a certified lactation consultant and longtime owner of a maternity and breastfeeding shop in Huntsville.

“I hear stories like this on a fairly regular basis, unfortunately,” Lorick said later. “An employer is not working with the mom, or the mom feels like she can’t ask for the time.”

The Affordable Care Act requires some employers to provide a private space for women to pump breastmilk or make a case for why that accommodation would overly burden the company. About half of all states, including most of Alabama’s neighbors, have state-level laws protecting women who need to express breast milk during work hours.

Lorick advised Haley to contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Haley called that day. She learned that because her employer had fewer than 50 employees, he didn’t have to provide time and space to pump; however, before he could legally deny her request he would have to prove it would cause an undue burden on the company.

The EEOC helped her prepare an official request for “reasonable accommodation” and she sent it to her employer. She asked for two unpaid 20-minute breaks during the workday to pump.

“I wanted to make sure before I walk in the doors – because I’m still thinking I’m going to work – that I’m allowed to breastfeed,” Haley said.

Her boss responded by saying her employment had ended the day she began her maternity leave weeks earlier, and that the job he was offering her now – her old job – “doesn’t allow for a person to take two 20-minute unpaid breaks during the work day.

“Therefore, I am withdrawing the (job) offer,” he said in a text message.

He also told her that because her job ended back in January, right before the birth, that her health insurance coverage had ended in January as well.

“I had never been told that my position was over, nor that I would be rehired,” Haley said. “My stuff was still at my desk. My picture frames of my kids were still sitting there. If I didn’t work there, why was my desk still set up?

“I’d been worried about those two weeks, but now I’ve got a real worry,” she said. “I’ve lost my job. I’ve lost my health insurance.

“When I sent the letter to him, I never imagined he would have said no.”

Haley Gentle, a mother of two in North Alabama, lost her job following the birth of her daughter, after she says she requested an extra two weeks of unpaid maternity leave, and later requested time to pump breast milk at work. Here she's pictured holding her daughter while at her son's tee-ball game. (Photo by Bob Miller)

The South moves forward

Earlier this year, the Kentucky legislature overwhelmingly passed a law requiring employers who have at least 15 employees to offer “reasonable accommodation” for pregnant workers.

The accommodations mentioned in the law include more frequent or longer breaks, time off to recover from childbirth and temporary transfer to a less strenuous job. The law also requires employers to provide a private space for pumping breastmilk.

Louisiana has a pregnancy discrimination law, too. So do Texas and West Virginia.

South Carolina passed a similar law last year. Lawmakers there explicitly outlined the reason for the bill in its opening section:

“Current workplace laws are inadequate to protect pregnant women from being forced out or fired when they need a simple, reasonable accommodation in order to stay on the job.”

Pregnancy discrimination has not come up in any recent session of the Alabama legislature.

A cop and an EMT

A month after Haley lost her job, she couldn’t shake what she saw as the unfairness of it.

“I enjoy breastfeeding, I believe in it, and I got fired for making what was the best decision for my family,” she said. “That’s when I thought: No, I’m not going to be quiet about this.”

She talked to local media about her experience but refrained from naming her employer. She eventually contacted an attorney, Teri Mastando of Huntsville firm Mastando & Artrip, who agreed to take her case.

She’s not the first Alabama woman to challenge pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.

A few years ago, a Tuscaloosa police officer sued the City of Tuscaloosa after she said she was harassed into quitting her job when her supervisors refused to make accommodations that would allow her to pump breastmilk. A federal jury sided with the officer, awarding her $374,000 in damages.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision and affirmed that breastfeeding is a medical condition protected under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

In 2016, a Pell City EMT sued her employer for pregnancy discrimination after she said the company wouldn’t make reasonable accommodations for her that it had made for non-pregnant employees.

She’s now appealing her case in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, the same court that ruled in favor of the Tuscaloosa police officer.

‘It’s 2019’

Shortly after she lost her job, Haley heard from her old boss. He offered her job back, with unpaid pump breaks. But by that point Haley had sent out a flurry of resumes and gotten hired at another medical practice, Tennessee Valley Pain Consultants, part of the Huntsville Hospital system.

During orientation, she said, the leader showed her the company’s private lactation room and explained she has the freedom to pump when she needs to, without having to ask permission.

Haley said she’s been shocked by the response she got after sharing her story publicly. She’s received messages on social media and hundreds of comments, she said, most from women who shared similar experiences.

“He ruined my life for a short minute,” Haley said of her former employer. “But if anything, he gave me a platform and now I can talk about this.”

She wants to advocate for a change in state law to better protect mothers like her. She plans to start a local support group.

“I didn’t want any other mother to endure what my family went through,” she said. “This happened to me; let’s not let this happen to someone else. It’s 2019. It’s time.”

This story is part of an ongoing series about how Alabama treats its mothers. Read more at al.com/motherhood. Join the conversation around issues that matter to women in the South on the Reckon Women group on Facebook. And for the best stories delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our Reckon Women newsletter.