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Woman suing Pittsburgh Penguins because she was fired for breastfeeding, lawsuit says

CRANBERRY, Pa. — A local woman says she was forced to choose between her dream job with the Pittsburgh Penguins and breastfeeding her baby.

Angela Gubala said her supervisor at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex told her she would have to choose between the two before she was fired.

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Gubala had worked for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization as a youth skating coach since 2015.

She’d never had a performance write-up until after coming back from maternity leave and expressing frustration with the lack of accommodations for her to use a breast pump while at work.

She was allotted two 15-minute breaks, but was required to contact a list of people before pumping. She says many times she was ignored, told no and even had one person hang up on her.

Gubala’s attorney said she was forced to pump in a bathroom and a shower stall, “none of which are appropriate to do that in.”

Gubala was terminated in September of last year for performance issues after she brought the issue to the forefront. She’s now suing the Penguins and a third party.

Tracey McCants Lewis, Deputy General Counsel and Director of Human Resources sent Channel 11 a statement in response to the allegations:

“This was an ongoing performance-related issue. We are reviewing the complaint and are confident that these allegations will be found to be untrue. We are committed to providing a workplace where all individuals are respected and given a full and fair opportunity to succeed. That has always been the case here.”