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Midwest retailer Meijer is being sued by a former employee who says the Swartz Creek store failed to provide the then nursing mother a lactation room, which is required under federal law.

(Tommy Martino | MLive Musgeon Ch)

SWARTZ CREEK, MI -- A former store clerk claims Meijer failed to provide her a private place to express breast milk as required by federal law, and that the ordeal led to her firing.

The Michigan-based retailer is accused of creating a sexually hostile work environment in a lawsuit filed in Genesee County Circuit Court court on June 30.

Rachel Keesling was a nursing mother of a 3-month-old baby when she was hired to work at Meijer's Swartz Creek store in July 2013, Courthouse News reports.

The store's lack of a lactation room forced Keesling to toggle between a bathroom, a conference room and a computer service room.

The latter, which she used about three times a day for several months, had a surveillance camera in it, she learned later.

"There's probably a video of you on the internet," Keesling claims a supervisor told her, reports The Consumerist.

Keesling says she was "distraught and humiliated" over the situation and tried to address it with the store director, who was "dismissive" and unapologetic, according to the publication.

Employers have to give nursing workers enough break time to pump, and "are also required to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk," according to the Labor Department.

In Keesling case, her pay was initially docked when her efforts to find a private place to lactate made her late for her shifts. A union steward intervened and Meijer removed the disciplinary citations from her file. The company's human resource department then sent a memo reminding all store managers the retailer was required under federal law to provide a space for nursing mothers.

The memo didn't resolve Keesling's problems.

When she later requested a transfer to a different store "due to the sexually hostile environment," she was denied, according to the suit.

She was fired when she refused to come back to the store after a medical leave.

The suit seeks damages for emotional distress, invasion of privacy, sex discrimination and sexually hostile work environment.

Meijer has designated locations at every store and facility for employees who are nursing and need to express milk, said Frank Guglielmi, company spokesman.

"We value all of our team members, including our nursing mothers," Guglielmi wrote in an email. "Our policy is to provide nursing mothers at all of our stores or facilities with the time, appropriate space (not a rest room) and amenities to express and store milk."

He declined to discuss what happened in Keesling's case, saying he couldn't comment on pending litigation.

Shandra Martinez covers business and other topics for MLive. Email her or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez.