A Calgary woman who was trying to make a claim was asked to leave by her insurance adjuster because she was breastfeeding her baby.
Ashly Cosgrove was going to file a claim after criminals had cleared out her family’s storage locker with the Alberta Motor Association (AMA). With her were her newborn, her husband Zahir Zuway, and one of her daughters.
Cosgrove was nursing her one-month-old son, tucked under her headscarf, when the insurance adjuster she was supposed to see asked her to get out of his office.
“He told me I had to leave the room,” Cosgrove recounted to CBC News. “I objected. I was just really embarrassed.”
She had openly recorded her meeting with the adjuster, intending to use it as a record of what was said about the claim. Cosgrove initially thought she was being kicked out for recording the meeting.
“At this point Ashly I do have to ask you to leave the room, because this is making me very uncomfortable,” the adjuster could be heard saying. “This is a professional environment and it feels like this is particularly unnecessary at this point in time.”
It came to the point that the adjuster approached his manager regarding the issue, who also agreed that breastfeeding should be done in another room.
The dispute finally ended after Cosgrove agreed to stop breastfeeding in order to finish the claim.
After news of the incident made rounds on CBC News’ Go Public program, AMA apologized “for the embarrassment and hurt the situation caused.” The insurer also said it is reviewing its education programs and policies.
“The situation was entirely unacceptable and not at all aligned with who we are, what we value and how we promise to treat our members,” a representative from AMA said in a written statement.
“We believe fundamentally in the importance of this issue and unequivocally support a woman’s right to breastfeed at any time and at any place of her choosing.”
