NORWAY – A nursing mother’s appeal for unemployment benefits denied by the employer who fired her for alleged “misconduct” has been upheld by the state Department of Labor.

“They gave me four days to wean a baby, whose primary source of nutrition is breast milk,” said Lisa Dunham of Oxford, the former marketing and events director for the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce.

In a July 25 decision, hearing officer Nancy Beaudette granted the unemployment benefits to Dunham saying Dunham was unable to comply within the set timeline with a number of changes imposed by a new boss. No “misconduct” was found.

Beaudette said the new director attempted to make changes within a few days to an existing agreement between Dunham and the previous executive director that allowed Dunham to have her daughter and a caretaker in the office so she could nurse the baby and gave her flexibility in her schedule. The new mandates required Dunham to find suitable child care arrangements and wean the baby from breast milk within the short period of time.

Dunham was fired in May from the job she had held for the previous two years only 21 days after a new executive director was brought on board.

The chamber will apparently not contest the decision.

“I don’t believe we are going to,” said Dana Chandler of the chamber’s right to appeal the decision by Aug. 9. Executive Director Kelsey Jewell declined to comment saying, “I am not at liberty to discuss personnel issues.”

Jewell, who succeeded Richard Livingston earlier this year, removed Dunham for alleged “misconduct.”

Adam Fisher, spokesman for the Department of Labor, said the situation is not common.

“We don’t get many cases like that,” said Fisher, who could not remember one but said the labor law does not specifically address breast-feeding therefore it would be hard to find a similar case based on the written decision.

In its decision, the Department of Labor must determine whether the claimant is engaged in conduct that is a culpable breach or part of a pattern of irresponsible behavior.

“Although it is not unreasonable for an employer to take the steps that it sees fit to protect its interests, the question is whether disqualifying misconduct existed,” Beaudette wrote in her decision.

Shortly after her arrival in the new job, Jewell told Dunham in an e-mail dated May 14 following a meeting with her that, “In one week, beginning on Monday, May 21, 2007, Lina and/or Lina’s nanny are not welcome at the office on a permanent basis. I am interested in running a comfortable work environment and do not expect your family to visit on/or be in and out of the office.”

Jewell said she was willing to be flexible as things happen as long as they did not interfere with her work but asked that preapproval be received for time off, a move that the Department of Labor said Dunham could not be expected to comply with under the circumstances.

“I encourage you to take your break time and your 30-minute unpaid lunch to take care of whatever errands and/or other obligations you have,” Jewell wrote in the memo.

Dunham said a 10-minute daily break was not enough time to even pump the breast milk and because of the new limitations, she had to ask for time off to try to comply with the requirement that the baby not be in the office. Records given to the Department of Labor show that Dunham kept in touch with the office during those times.

On May 24, the termination letter was delivered, according to Dunham, to her home by Chamber Executive Committee Chairwoman-elect Terry Hayes at 9:30 p.m.

Hayes said the committee stays out of the day-to-day operations of the chamber, and all she knew was that Dunham was not showing up for work and not keeping in contact with the office.

“How long do you pay someone when there’s a pattern, as I understand it, of not showing up for work and no communication?” Hayes asked.

Dunham said the chamber has always had a family-friendly attitude with its employees encouraging her to not only have her daughter Lena in the office, with a young girl who acted as a nanny, but also her 5-year-old son Cole, who often visited his mother’s office.

Dunham said she believes many women simply leave their jobs or choose not to breast-feed their child and put the child in day care because they believe they may lose their job.

“The family still needs to come first,” Dunham said. “There are lots of women out there who would be fantastic if they had flexibility to come into the office.”

Dunham said she has some sense of closure with the ruling but has contacted an attorney about the situation.

“I put my life into that chamber… I think it’s lost some of their integrity. They’re almost too corporate for these small communities,” Dunham said. “I felt what they did was wrong.”