Legal Scales

Yes, you can said the Iowa Supreme Court (which must have a lot of Right Said Fred fans) in a decision in December of 2012 .  Now the Court is revisiting the case, which hardly ever happens.  Perhaps there will be more to come.

The facts in the matter involved are relative straightforward.  Dr. James Knight hired Melissa Nelson as a dental assistant in his Fort Dodge, Iowa dental office in 1999.  Both were married with families and got along well together for more than a decade.  Mrs. Nelson’s performance was more than acceptable.

Unfortunately the Doctor became physically and romantically attracted to Mrs. Nelson.  He attempted to compensate for this by telling her to dress less proactively despite the fact that she wore scrubs like other assistants in the office.  All was to no avail, and Dr. Knight began to become flirtatious with Mrs. Nelson, who refused reciprocity.  As always seems to be the case these days, Dr. Knight’s wife discovered the texts to Mrs. Nelson and demanded she be fired.  Dr. Knight, in the interests of preserving his marriage, complied.

Mrs. Nelson sued on the basis of gender discrimination but the complaint was dismissed by a lower court.  The Iowa Supreme Court rejected the appeal because Dr. Knight hired a female to replace Mrs. Nelson (no word on any role Mrs. Knight played in the selection process) and that his irresistible desire for Mrs.Nelson was a valid non-discriminatory reason for termination.  Unfair, for sure, but not illegal.

I am not confident  at all many courts or administrative bodies outside of Iowa would see things the same.  My recommendation would be to avoid the thin ice in this ruling when it comes to internal policy making in your company.  It seems to me if you are only attracted only to females, and you fire a female because you are too attracted to her, ipso facto you have discriminated on the basis on gender.  Every good HR pro knows how to answer the management question: “Is it legal to do this?”  The better question is:  “Is it the right and fair thing to do?”