An 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision found that an employer, who fired an employee because she did not fit within sexual stereotypes (not feminine enough), violated Title VII.
The employee, a night desk employee at a motel, had received several merit pay increases and positive customer feedback. Consequently, her manager sought and received approval (over the phone) from a corporate director of operations to put her in a daytime front desk job.
All was fine until the director stopped by in person and found the employee wasn’t “pretty enough” lacked the “Midwestern girl look” that the motel chain desired. The employee, by her own admission, wore men’s shirts and pants, had a more masculine appearance, and had even been mistaken for a male.
The director ordered the manager to put the employee back on the night shift. When the manager refused she was asked to resign. The employee was later fired…and then sued. The court found for the employee, holding that the discrimination would not have occurred but for the individual’s sex, violating Title VII.
Note that federal law still does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation (although many states do). Rather the court found discrimination “because of sex…,” a confusing distinction, I know. [Lewis v Heartland Inns of America].
The 8th Circuit covers North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.
