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Airlines ask breast-feeding charges to be dismissed
Published: Friday, December 15, 2006
By Sky Barsch
Free Press Staff Writer

The two airlines involved in an incident that saw a mother kicked off a plane in Burlington in October for breast-feeding have asked the Vermont Human Rights Commission to throw out complaints against them. Emily Gillette of New Mexico filed a complaint with the commission last month. She claimed a flight attendant for Freedom Airlines, operating a commuter flight for Delta Air Lines, had her and her family removed from a flight awaiting departure on the tarmac at Burlington International Airport after Gillette refused to cover up while breast-feeding.

Gillette is arguing that her civil rights were violated because breast-feeding is a right protected by Vermont's Public Accommodations Law. Freedom Airlines argued in a Monday letter to the Human Rights Commission that the federal Airlines Deregulation Act trumps Vermont's human rights law, because state law cannot interfere with air carrier service. "Freedom denies having discriminated against the Charging party in any manner whatsoever and specifically denies that any violation of the Vermont Fair Housing and Accommodations Act ... has occurred," Freedom wrote in its response, which was provided by Gillette's Manchester attorney, Elizabeth Boepple.

The airline, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, asked that the complaint be dismissed. Delta Air Lines says that the attendant acted contrary to its policies, but that she was acting as a Freedom Airlines employee, not as an employee of Delta. Delta also asked that the complaint be dismissed. Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin said Thursday afternoon that she would let the filing speak for itself, but wanted to reiterate that Delta "fully supports a mother's right to breast-feed on board our aircraft and that we were disappointed that the decision was made to remove our customer from the airplane."

Freedom Airlines spokesman Paul Skellon did not immediately return a message seeking comment. "My reaction to their argument is that they have not cited that there is any law to show that there is a federal pre-emption over a state law that establishes a civil right for a breast-feeding mother," Boepple said.

Gillette said she was discreetly breast-feeding her daughter when a flight attendant ordered her to cover up. Gillette refused, and the attendant allegedly said she was offended and had the Gillettes removed from the plane. The airlines have said the attendant acted contrary to company expectations and was disciplined.

The incident has garnered national and international attention, prompting a "nurse-in" at several airports across the country last month. Robert Appel, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, cannot say whether complaints are filed with his office unless the commission determines that human rights laws were violated. In general, investigations take between three months and a year, he said. While he couldn't confirm Gillette's complaint, he said there has not been another breast-feeding complaint filed with the Human Rights Commission since the law went into effect in 2003.

Contact Sky Barsch at sbarsch@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com or 660-1861.

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