Good morning!
My mother brought this write to my attention. Thanks mom.
IOWA CITY, Iowa — A dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant that he found attractive simply because he and his wife viewed the woman as a threat to their marriage, the all-male Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The court ruled 7-0 that bosses can fire employees they see as an “irresistible attraction,” even if the employees have not engaged in flirtatious behavior or otherwise done anything wrong. Such firings may be unfair, but they are not unlawful discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act because they are motivated by feelings and emotions, not gender, Justice Edward Mansfield wrote.
An attorney for Fort Dodge dentist James Knight said the decision, the first of its kind in Iowa, is a victory for family values because Knight fired Melissa Nelson in the interest of saving his marriage, not because she was a woman.
But Nelson’s attorney said Iowa’s all-male high court, one of only a handful in the nation, failed to recognize the discrimination that women see routinely in the workplace.
“These judges sent a message to Iowa women that they don’t think men can be held responsible for their sexual desires and that Iowa women are the ones who have to monitor and control their bosses’ sexual desires,” said attorney Paige Fiedler. “If they get out of hand, then the women can be legally fired for it.”
Nelson, 32, worked for Knight for 10 years, and he considered her a stellar worker. But in the final months of her employment, he complained that her tight clothing was distracting, once telling her that if his pants were bulging that was a sign her clothes were too revealing, according to the opinion.
He also once allegedly remarked about her infrequent sex life by saying, “that’s like having a Lamborghini in the garage and never driving it.”
Knight and Nelson – both married with children – started exchanging text messages, mostly about personal matters, such as their families. Knight’s wife, who also worked in the dental office, found out about the messages and demanded Nelson be fired. The Knights consulted with their pastor, who agreed that terminating Nelson was appropriate.
Knight fired Nelson and gave her one month’s severance. He later told Nelson’s husband that he worried he was getting too personally attached and feared he would eventually try to start an affair with her.
Nelson was stunned because she viewed the 53-year-old Knight as a father figure and had never been interested in starting a relationship, Fiedler said.
Nelson filed a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination, arguing she would not have been terminated if she was male. She did not allege sexual harassment because Knight’s conduct may not have risen to that level and didn’t particularly offend her, Fiedler said.
Knight argued Nelson was fired not because of her gender, but because her continued employment threatened his marriage. A district judge agreed, dismissing the case before trial, and the high court upheld that ruling.
Mansfield noted that Knight had an all-female workforce and Nelson was replaced by a woman.
He said the decision was in line with state and federal court rulings that found workers can be fired for relationships that cause jealousy and tension within a business owner’s family. One such case from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a business owner’s firing of a valued employee who was seen by his wife as a threat to their marriage. In that case, the fired employee had engaged in flirtatious conduct.
Mansfield said allowing Nelson’s lawsuit would stretch the definition of discrimination to allow anyone fired over a relationship to file a claim arguing they would not have been fired but for their gender.
Knight’s attorney, Stuart Cochrane, said the court got it right. The decision clarified that bosses can make decisions showing favoritism to a family member without committing discrimination; in this case, by allowing Knight to honor his wife’s wishes to fire Nelson, he said.
Knight is a very religious and moral individual, and he sincerely believed that firing Nelson would be best for all parties, he said.
“While there was really no fault on the part of Mrs. Nelson, it was just as clear the decision to terminate her was not related to the fact that she was a woman,” he said. “The motives behind Dr. Knight terminating Mrs. Nelson were quite clear: He did so to preserve his marriage.
“I don’t view this as a decision that was either pro-women or opposed to women rights at all. In my view, this was a decision that followed the appropriate case law.”
*******
Readers: So a woman can now be fired because her employer finds her too “irresistible?” Is this starting to sound like we’re not in America but the Middle East? A man can’t control his sexual urges because he finds a woman “irresistible”, so he puts the responsibility on the woman and if she doesn’t hold up her end by “monitoring” her bosses “feelings,” and “sexual desires,” she can legally be fired. Wh’at?! What’s next, women will be required to don a burka because he can’t control himself?
This is absolutely crazy. A woman has to deal with enough discrimination, sexual harrassment, etc. Now a woman has to deal with managing whether her boss is going to get turned on or not. Once again, the woman, the victim here, is blamed because the man can’t handle his sexual desires and is afraid he might do something. Sick.
Knight making such remarks as “…if his pants were bulging that was a sign her clothes were too revealing,” is not something I would expect to hear coming from a man who claims he is a “religious and moral individual,” not to mention, saying these kind of remarks is sexual harassment. No man who claims to be “moral” would say that sort of thing to a woman, a married woman. Not sure when Nelson looked upon Knight as a ”father figure,’ but I can’t imagine her thoughts remained the same after he made those sexual comments to her. Nelson should have sued Knight for sexual harassment as well.
And what about Knight’s wife? Where’s the support of women? Once again, the woman is blaming the innocent woman, when she should be looking at her husband, and telling him to get it together and get control of himself and his lust. Here the wife is working along side of the husband and he is making sexual remarks to his employee, Nelson, and the wife is blaming Nelson because her husband can’t control himself. Hello…your husband, a “moral married man,” shouldn’t be making such remarks to a woman. This is sexual harassment.
This “all-male” ruling in favor of firing this woman because of this man’s shortcomings shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Not only is the innocent blamed, but in my opinion this is just an excuse to give the man free reign to do whatever. He can sexually harass a woman and then if the woman doesn’t give in to his desires, his ego can get her fired because she was just too “irresistible.” This gives a man an option to fire a woman for whatever reason because she was too “irresistible.” Who’s going to argue with what turns a man on? A peek of an ankle? A lock of hair sweeping across her eye?
Yeah…firing Nelson was good for “all parties”. Right. “Preserve the marriage.” Yeah right…until the next pretty thing comes along and screws it all up again. Oh yeah – No problem, we’ll just fire her too.
What’s next? A man is walking down the street, sees an “irresistible” woman and because he can’t control his sexual desires, he can legally have a police officer arrest her? How far does this go?
Thoughts? Blog me.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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