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(EMAILWIRE.COM, August 07, 2013 ) San Francisco, CA -- Last Friday in Iowa City, Iowa, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of a discrimination lawsuit filed by Melissa Nelson against her employer, James Knight. The judge ruled that Knight, a dentist in Fort Dodge, legally fired his longtime assistant on the grounds that an affair between them was imminent.
In December, NelsonÂ’s first attempt at a sex discrimination lawsuit was dismissed because such firings are motivated by feelings and not gender. The Supreme Court clarified its rationale in the dismissal. A boss can fire a subordinate if they and their spouse view the employee as a threat to their marriage.
Nelson, who had worked for Knight for 10 years, was considered his best assistant. The dental assistant is 33 years old, which is twenty years younger than her former employer is. Knight terminated her employment when his wife became aware of intimate text messages between the two. Nelson did not claim a hostile work environment or sexual harassment in the suit, said Justice Edward Mansfield.
The first ruling, in December, was based on the issue ofÂ… "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," he said. Attorney for the plaintiff, Paige Fiedler, requested the court to reconsider the decision. Last month, the court withdrew its opinion and granted a motion to reconsider.
Mansfield removed that language from Friday's opinion, emphasizing that the scope of the ruling was limited. He stressed that terminating employment based on characteristics such as their looks may violate civil rights but the facts of the case did not support such a claim. Knight's wife was concerned about the relationship and requested the termination.
Chief Justice Mark Cady joined two other justices, Friday, to explain the rationale behind the second ruling. "Nelson was terminated because of the activities of her consensual personal relationship with her employer, not because of her gender," Cady wrote. Nelson texted Knight at one point that she was not getting much sex, Cady explained. Knight responded, "That's like having a Lamborghini in the garage and not ever driving it." The Chief Justice concluded Â… that went beyond the "reasonable parameters of workplace interaction."
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Source: EmailWire.com
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