Following up on my recent post on the story, I had the opportunity to speak with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN TV regarding the kerfuffle over the pink locker room at Kinnick Stadium. In the interview, Colin and I discuss some of the serious and not-so-serious issues this story presents.
Sex Discrimination
Should We Take Seriously the Claim that Pink Paint in a Locker Room Is Sex Discrimination?
Last week, the co-founder of a Minnesota based organization called “Gender Justice” accused the Iowa football team of “pink shaming” its opponents and engaging in what she calls “cognitive bias.” Jill Gaulder, who also happens to be a former UI professor, claims the infamous pink visitor’s locker room at Kinnick Stadium is “sexist”, “homophobic”, …
Critics are Unfairly Attacking the Iowa Supreme Court’s Sex Discrimination Ruling in Nelson v. Knight
Never has a Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling in an employment dispute generated such strong reaction, not only locally, but internationally. The case, of course, is Nelson v. Knight, the December 21, 2012 ruling involving the Fort Dodge dentist who was irresistibly attracted to one of his dental assistants. Dr. Knight’s wife, who also worked in …
Eighth Circuit Finds that Public Employee’s Gender Discrimination Claim Not Subject to Time Limits of Title VII
Crystal Henley enrolled in the Kansas City Police Academy in September 2005. By November 8, she was forced to leave and was not able to complete her training to become a police officer. During her short time at the Academy, Henley claims she was treated more harshly than male trainees, subject to sexual harassment, and …
Eighth Circuit Reverses $4.5 Million Sanction Against EEOC
Two years ago, Judge Linda Reade of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa made headlines when she dismissed an EEOC lawsuit on behalf of 270 current and former female long haul drivers of Cedar Rapids based CRST Van Expedited. What was notable about the decision was not so much the dismissal itself as…
Judge’s Pregnancy Discrimination Ruling Prompts Debate About Work-Life Balance
Last week a federal judge in the Southern District of New York Judge dismissed the EEOC’s long running sex and pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against financial media company Bloomberg, LP. EEOC claimed Bloomberg engaged in a “pattern and practice” of discrimination against pregnant women and mothers returning from maternity leave by reducing their pay, demoting them in title, …
Wal-Mart v. Dukes: What Impact?
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion Wal-Mart v. Dukes, an important case addressing issues involving both employment law and class actions. There has been an incredible amount of coverage and analysis of this opinion in both regular and legal media outlets and blogs (including our own summary in the DRI Publication…
Iowa Jury Finds for Plaintiff in Gender Sterotyping Case
A jury in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa recently returned a verdict in excess of $50,000 to a female plaintiff alleging sex discrimination based upon gender stereotypes. The plaintiff, who was a night auditor at a hotel, claimed she was terminated because she was more masculine than a typical female employee. She …
U.S. District Court in Iowa Imposes $4.5 Million Sanction against EEOC
On February 9, 2010, U.S. District Judge Linda Reade ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (link courtesy of Ross Runkel) to pay Cedar Rapids based CRST Van Expedited $4.5 million in attorney’s fees and costs it incurred to defend itself against a meritless sexual harassment lawsuit.
The action started in 2005 when a CRST employee …
Eighth Circuit Issues Significant Ruling on Sex Stereotyping and Gender Discrimination
On January 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a decision that is likely to expand the frontiers of sex discrimination litigation in this circuit (which covers Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota). In Lewis v. Heartland Inns of America, a female plaintiff who had masculine …