Iowa: Don't be Too Attractive If You want to Keep Your Job

[NurseNell]

In Iowa one can apparently be fired for being irresistible. A 53 y.o. dentist fired a female dental assistant because he was afraid he might be led to have an affair with her. :shock: His wife wasn't happy with a pretty woman in the office, and after the dentist consulted with his pastor, fired her. The all male state supreme court upheld the firing.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/12/2 ... e-workers/

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.

The poor menz, what can they do? :? They just cannot control themselves.

[sarahbrownie]

...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...

O_o

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

[pixydust]

O_o

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

So, this woman was fired because the boss sexually harassed her?!?!

[Desert Ice]

The only threat to this marriage was the man's hormones. If the dental assistant was so attractive, then why did he hire her in the first place? Why keep her on for a decade and suddenly decide she was too beautiful to employ any longer? :roll:

The true reason is that the wife became jealous over the texts, and the husband decided to save face. I would not be surprised if he lied and said the dental assistant was coming on to him, etc.

[GeoBQn]

I live in Iowa. Tell me who to write angry letters to, and I will do it.

[NurseNell]

I live in Iowa. Tell me who to write angry letters to, and I will do it.

The story came out of Iowa City but the dentist is James Knight in Fort Dodge. I would write a letter to the dental licensing board plus the newspapers. The story appeared on a Minneapolis TV station.

[EyeQueue]

This is uncomfortably close to mandating what women can wear, and firmly on the slippery slope to something like burquas required for all women who dare set foot outside their (or, actually fathers' or husbands') homes.

[SayNoToMullets]

This is discrimination, and it is gender-based. A woman in this scenario is not being assessed on her professional merit, but as an object of sexual desire, which in this case is a gendered distinction. She is being treated like a literal object in the workplace. If OSHA found a literal stumbling block in the workplace and ordered it removed, the block wouldn't sue because it's a block. It doesn't have to make a living. But human beings have material interests that inanimate objects do not, and it is the duty of the law to protect those interests. In Iowa, the law has failed to protect this woman's livelihood, siding with a man who has said so himself that he would commit adultery if presented the opportunity.

[debrand]

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 woma

How does this case help family values? The problems in the marriage still exist. Eventually, some other woman will catch the dentist's attention and he'll be tempted again. It doesn't sound like his assistant had any intention of having sex with him. If the text bothered him so badly, just tell his assistant that he felt that they shouldn't text about nonwork related things.

[mirele]

I'm thinking any woman who is a patient of Dr. James H. Knight, DDS of Fort Dodge, Iowa, ought to take her teeth elsewhere. This is obviously a man who cannot be trusted around women, employee or not.

Also, family values are not helped by canning a wage earner for nothing more than her body made Dr. James H. Knight of Fort Dodge's teeny tiny ween get a hardon.

[ILoveJellybeans]

This guy is the problem, he has no self control.

Fundies, this is what happens when you teach your sons that boys are sex crazed maniacs.

[Guest Anonymous]

I find it really strange that this man just assumed that one of his employees would have an affair with him.

ETA: unless he was planning to further sexually harass her, using his position of authority over her. The weird thing now is that all of his employees know that he can just randomly fire people for sexual reasons, and that he can get away with it. Not a good workplace.

[Lillybee]

Most dental assistants wear scrubs, Could her scrubs been too tight? I doubt it, this dentist was just a horn dog.

[Jinger Jar]

I find it really strange that this man just assumed that one of his employees would have an affair with him.

Two words: male privilege

I can't remember who, but someone once said that the day an unwashed, balding woman with a beer gut walks down the street in a T-shirt, filthy jeans, and an old baseball cap gets angry that the guy she just hit on didn't find her desirable, is the day women have become truly equal. :D

[kiwimusume]

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.

So emotion is an OK reason to fire someone? The boss's emotions trump the employee's right not to be unemployed through no fault of their own?

I don't think I want to hear the answer to this, do I?

[VintageJen1984]

This sounds like a case for the ACLU.

[PennySycamore]

This sounds like a case for the ACLU.

Yep, it sure does! Some feminist orgs too.

[marmalade]

I'm thinking any woman who is a patient of Dr. James H. Knight, DDS of Fort Dodge Iowa, ought to take her teeth elsewhere. This is obviously a man who cannot be trusted around women, employee or not.

Also, family values are not helped by canning a wage earner for nothing more than her body made Dr. James H. Knight of Fort Dodge's teeny tiny ween get a hardon.

Amen. What of Jimmy Carter who admitted to "lusting in his heart." I don't think he meant it that deep, but he was Evangelical Christian and that was the lingo he knew. What man DOESN'T lust? What WOMAN doesn't? Geez.

As someone else noted, this is a lame slippery slope that screams lack of professionalism and self-control. Jimmy got it under control. This moron, and others like him can as well, rather than sue.

[JesusFightClub]

Two words: male privilege

I can't remember who, but someone once said that the day an unwashed, balding woman with a beer gut walks down the street in a T-shirt, filthy jeans, and an old baseball cap gets angry that the guy she just hit on didn't find her desirable, is the day women have become truly equal. :D

That sounds uncomfortably like me - except I've got a skinhead cut and neither a beer gut nor a baseball cap :whistle:

What a really weird case though. So this woman was wrong for existing? My previous boss used to get her boss (a man) presents for Xmas and organised parties for his birthday and his leaving do. This wasn't code for "let us have a mad wild affair" it was because she liked and respected him. Are friendly and non sexual text messages any different?

I've texted my boss before. He's a bloke. He's a happily married bloke with two lovely wee kids. Neither of us, it's safe to say, was overwhelmed with lust as a result.

It's like the 19th century or something where women are, as a poster upthread pointed out, just seen as sexual objects.

[Miggy]

If I was tempted by an employee, even if those feelings were not reciprocated, I would like to be able to do something about it. HOWEVER, this doesn't mean I fire the person. Step 1 Keep my feelings to myself. Crushes pass. Step 2 If the feeling continue talk to the person about my problem. Maybe we can work out a compromise that helps me without making the other person uncomfortable. Step 3 I ask the person to leave BUT I help them to find a new job and do not make them leave until they have a new position.

Surely if this man was "very religious and moral" he could have found a better way to do this. It has a very sleazy feel to it.

[nokidsmom]

I find it really strange that this man just assumed that one of his employees would have an affair with him.

ETA: unless he was planning to further sexually harass her, using his position of authority over her. The weird thing now is that all of his employees know that he can just randomly fire people for sexual reasons, and that he can get away with it. Not a good workplace.

Right, wonder how many more of his staff will leave after this. Plus the word is out so he could have a tough time finding replacements. Word gets around in an industry or town.

[TheSassyOne]

It's always our fault.

We get raped, it's because of the clothing (lack of/too sexy) that we're wearing.

We get pregnant due to a rape, it's because it wasn't a legitimate rape. We were probably just being sluts (nods head wisely).

Now, if the boss man is lusting after us [or his wife is supposedly threatened by us], we can be fired even if our work is superb.

~Shakes my head~ Such a divide we have in the U.S. These attitudes enormously contradict the results of our recent election. Yet a court agreed that the boss could do this. Why do I have a feeling that if a woman had fired her male underling for the same reasons, she would be laughed out of the courtroom, much less the boardroom?

[SisiL78]

This is just nuts. Just further proof that we have to have quotas in certain areas guaranteeing that women are represented. While we're at it maybe minorities and non-Christians too.

Somehow I'm not surprised. I know a woman who was basically fired for getting pregnant, and her lawyer said it would be hard to prove. Same employer recently let go of a woman who dared to have a recurrence of cancer. But, somehow (in the same workplace) a man has to repeatedly come in drunk or make a monumental mistake that costs the company a fortune before they fire him.

[Wolfie]

This is just nuts. Just further proof that we have to have quotas in certain areas guaranteeing that women are represented. While we're at it maybe minorities and non-Christians too.

Somehow I'm not surprised. I know a woman who was basically fired for getting pregnant, and her lawyer said it would be hard to prove. Same employer recently let go of a woman who dared to have a recurrence of cancer. But, somehow (in the same workplace) a man has to repeatedly come in drunk or make a monumental mistake that costs the company a fortune before they fire him.

This is why unions are just as important as ever. And stupid governments are passing union busting laws. A couple of coworkers "took advantage" of being a fee payer, wonder if now that they've announced it the district is going to start some sort of proceeding against them since they are no longer covered by the union. How stupid can be people be?

[RosyDaisy]

This male privilege and entitlement is disgusting and has to stop. We are moving backward, not forward.