In Melissa Nelson v. James H. Knight DDS, P.C. and James Knight,[1] the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that “a female employee who has not engaged in flirtatious conduct may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction.”[2] Putting aside the questionable legal theory of the opinion, this appalling decision threatens the progress women have made over the last few decades. Nelson was terminated only because her boss was attracted to her and “feared he would try to have an affair with her…if he did not fire her.”[3] The defendant testified that Nelson never did “anything wrong or inappropriate and was the best dental assistant he had ever had.”[4] Rather than firing her for her shortcomings, he terminated her to accommodate his own shortcomings. He could have controlled himself, sought counseling, or limited his time alone with the employee. She was terminated because she was a woman. It is extremely unlikely she would have been terminated had she been a man.
This decision harkens back to the role of women in the 1950s, when they were socially repressed and limited in what they could do professionally. There was societal pressure for women to fulfill certain roles, such as a caring mother, diligent homemaker, and an obedient wife. Men feared intelligent women because of their tendency to “think” for themselves and to disagree with them.[5] “In the 1950s, professional jobs were still largely closed off to women. It was not unusual for companies to have a written policy that stated that women should be paid less than men. On average, women earned only 60 percent of what men did. In addition, many women faced pressure from their families to stay home and not work at all outside the home. By 1960, only 3.5 percent of lawyers and 2 percent of business executives were women.”[6] Men had unbridled control over women, in part because of women’s lack of education and equal opportunity to work and receive the same benefits.
With this decision, the Court unfairly allowed a male boss to limit an employee’s right to work solely because she was a woman. The harm to the plaintiff stemmed from the defendant’s perceived weakness and claimed sexual urges, not from any misconduct on her part. To deter such discriminatory behavior, defendants such as James Knight should be found liable for sex discrimination. This decision gives every man an unfettered safe harbor to impermissibly fire a woman under the pretext of sexual attraction. In the future, it is hoped that reviewing courts will find this legal reasoning flawed and unpersuasive.
[1] Melissa Nelson v. James H. Knight DDS, P.C. and James Knight, S.Ct. of Iowa, No. 11-1857, Filed December 21, 2012. On rehearing, the court withdrew that opinion and issued a new one on July 12, 2013, reaching the same result.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] “A Woman’s Role in the 1950s,” Yahoo! Voices (page no longer available online).
[6] “Women’s Rights in the 1950s,” eHow (page no longer available online).
The article titled “You’ve Got to be Kidding!” was published in the January 2013 inaugural issue of the Chicago Bar Association YLS Careers Update newsletter. I was appalled by the Iowa Supreme Court decision that ruled that a female employee may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss viewed her as an “irresistible attraction.”
