Iowa Supreme Court Says Boss Can Fire Worker for Being Too Sexy

12/24/12

On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a boss can fire an employee for finding her too sexy, even if the employee did not make any overtures or remotely consider any romantic relationship with the boss. Writing for an all-male panel in the case of a female employee fired because her boss found her too sexy, the Justice Edward M. Mansfield wrote, “The question we must answer is … whether an employee who has not engaged in flirtatious conduct may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction.”

And the Iowa Supreme Court found that regardless of whether such an action was fair or not, such firing do not constitute an infringement of the Iowa Civil Rights Act or any act of employee discrimination under the said Act.

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In the instant case, Melissa Nelson , the plaintiff, was working as an assistant to a dentist James Knight. She worked for the dentist for more than a decade. In days before her termination, the ruling notes, Knight had complained to Nelson that “if she saw his pants bulging, she would know her clothing was too revealing.” The ruling also notes that at another point the boss had told Nelson that not having frequent sex was “like having a Lamborghini in the garage and never driving it.”

During the last six months of her employment, Nelson and Knight, both being married and with children had began sending text messages to each other, beyond work.

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Knight’s wife, who also worked in the same office, found out about the text messages and objected, and demanded that Knight fire Nelson. So, Knight fired Nelson with one month’s severance pay.

Subsequently, Nelson went to lawyers, and the lawyers brought a gender discrimination case. Knight pointed out that there was no gender discrimination as he had almost an all-female staff, and Nelson had been replaced with another female employee.

The District court sided with Knight, and the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the District Court. The ruling of the Iowa Supreme Court noted that “We are asked to decide only if a genuine fact exists as to whether D. Knight engaged in unlawful gender discrimination when he fired Nelson at the request of his wife. For the reasons previously discusses, we believe this conduct did not amount to an unlawful discrimination, and therefore we affirm the judgment of the district court.”

As it happens in so many cases, the cause of action upon which the plaintiff decided to proceed was a mistake in the face of factual evidence discoverable at the first instance. The case could not survive under a cause of termination due to unlawful gender discrimination.