Janitorial staff burst in on nursing mother at Reagan National Airport, officials say
WASHINGTON - A nursing mother says janitorial staff barged in on her while she was pumping milk for her 8-month-old baby girl at Reagan National Airport.
Dorreen Tadde tells FOX 5 the embarrassing encounter took place inside the nursing room at the airport shortly before she was about to board her flight. The new mother was traveling to Charleston West Virginia from Reagan on Monday.
Tadde says cleaning staff banged on the door of the nursing room for about ten minutes, saying it needed to be cleaned before they used keys to open it.
She says she was exposed when they came in and completely taken aback. Tadde asked the staff for five more minutes to pack her belongings and get dressed.
The third-party janitorial company, which employs the cleaning staff involved, COA Virginia Inc. emailed FOX 5 confirming Tadde’s account of what happened saying it’s accurate. Even saying their employees‘ account of what happened is "not supported by video footage."
The company goes on to say they asked the two employees for an honest account of what happened and neither told the truth.
"Towards the end of my session, I was somewhat undressed and exposed… to get everything put away," Tadde says.
In an email to FOX 5, the janitorial company offered an apology to Tadde for the embarrassment and frustration, though Tadde tells us she has not heard from them directly.
The company says they plan to reinforce its training protocol with all employees. The policy for this type of scenario is for employers to wait up to 20 minutes without interruption, not enter if the room is occupied, and contact airport police if the room is occupied more than an hour.