According to case documents, on Ames' first day back after eight weeks of maternity leave, she requested a place to pump, as she'd been breastfeeding her baby every three hours.
David Evans, employment partner at law firm Cripps Harries Hall, says in practice employers of all sizes are fairly adept at handling the procedural requirements of maternity leave requests.
Other benefits: After maternity leave, employees can request a career break of up to three years.
The question is, could small businesses have the edge over larger employers in the way that they manage and support things like maternity leave and requests for flexible working, and therefore benefit from having an engaged workforce and potentially being more attractive to female candidates?
The primary confusion was associated with finding the best way to request or arrange reduced teaching loads, or maternity leave, especially when it was necessary to take disability or medical leave before delivery.
Duckworth, 50, came back from maternity leave saying the vote, which she'd requested, helps "bring the Senate into the 21st century".
Despite greater rights at work, with an extension of statutory maternity leave and pay, the right to request flexible working and paid time off for medical appointments, discrimination against new mothers remains.
Open issues, where they arise, tend to relate to which benefits continue during maternity leave and the accommodation of flexible work requests upon returning to work.
Third, they invested directly in the lives of young children with things like doubling paid maternity leave, providing universal preschool, assisting with child care and allowing parents of young children to request flexible work schedules.
While we are extending maternity pay the Conservatives voted against giving mothers 26 weeks paid leave and a further 26 weeks unpaid maternity leave, and voted against paternity leave, adoptive leave and the right to request flexible working.
