'Unfair Termination' For Being 'An Irresistible Attraction' To Her Boss Does Not Violate The Iowa Civil Rights Act

The Iowa Supreme Court has stirred up a flurry of media attention with its recent holding that "an employee who has not engaged in flirtatious conduct may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction."

In Nelson v. Knight, No. 11–1857, Dr. Knight, a dentist, fired Nelson, his dental hygienist of more than 10 years, because his wife saw her as "a big threat to [their] marriage." He conceded that she "had not done anything wrong or inappropriate and that she was the best dental assistant he ever had." He told Nelson's husband that he fired Nelson because "he feared he would try to have an affair with her down the road if he did not fire her."

Iowa is an employment-at-will state where an employee may be fired "at any time for any lawful reason." Lockhart v. Cedar Rapids Community Sch. Dist., 577 N.W.2d 845, 846 (Iowa 1998).

The Nelson Court held that a decision "driven entirely by individual feelings and emotions regarding a specific person ... is not gender-based, nor is it based on factors that might be a proxy for gender." The court observed that the goal of the Iowa civil rights law is to ensure equal treatment of employees regardless of sex, and concluded "Dr. Knight's unfair decision to terminate Nelson (while paying her a rather ungenerous one month's severance) does not jeopardize that goal. This is illustrated by the fact that...