WHAT Year is It?
by Miki Saxon2014 is just around the corner for most of us, but for some women it might as well be 1814.
How else would you explain women being fired for their good looks, with at least one termination upheld by a state Supreme Court?
After James Knight, a dentist in Iowa, fired his assistant Melissa Nelson because he found her “irresistible” and a possible threat to his marriage, according to reports, her subsequent suit made it to the state’s all-male Supreme Court. Over the summer, the justices affirmed that Mr. Knight was within his rights, writing in their opinion that “close personal relationships between men and woman can often produce personal emotions and conduct that are unfamiliar to the workplace relationship.”
Makes you wonder in what century those judges were raised.
Of course, the hilarious part is Knight’s assumption that his attractiveness is so extreme that Nelson would find him irresistible.
People like Knight and his ilk will always blame their lack of self-control on others as they look to shift the blame for their own actions.
Society’s job is to shift the responsibility to where it really belongs, not sanction the avoidance as did the Iowa Supreme Court.
Flickr image credit: Lee Wright