OH MY GOD...this is an actual news story from Iowa. Welcome to the wacky world of justice...
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In Ft. Dodge Iowa last week:
One of the wilder stories from the judicial branch to cross our desk in some time popped up this weekend. Our tale takes place in an Iowa dentist’s office, where an attractive, married woman works as a dental assistant. After ten years on the job providing what the dentist himself described as “stellar” performance, she was fired because she was too attractive and represented a threat to the owner’s marriage. There was no affair. There was no allegation of an affair. But the dentist’s wife also worked there and, after discovering some personal (not sexual) text messages between the two, she wanted the woman gone. The assistant went to court claiming unjust termination. There’s no way that one holds up, right? Wrong.
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.
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At first, I read this story and was furious that a man could fire a woman for being too beautiful?? Are you kidding me? She did a STELLAR job for ten years and then this happens??
But the more I think about it -- hey -- she is probably blonde and we already know she is beautiful. She'll be fine...
Rita's Sew Fun -- a sporadic, random blog about nothing in particular.
What is even more insulting is that, after ten years of "stellar performance" on the job, the dentist gave her ONE MONTH'S severance pay. What a slap in the face!!!!
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