Research Proposal on "International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agriculture"

Research Proposal 3 pages (1128 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agriculture Implement Workers of America, UAW, et al., Petitioners v. Johnson Controls, Inc. 499 U.S. 187, the petitioner union, on behalf of a class of female employees, sought a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed the summary judgment in favor of respondent employer under its defense that employer's discriminatory fetal-protection policy was a business necessity, and a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ).

The Supreme Court of the United States, in an opinion delivered by Blackmun and joined by Marshall, Stevens, O'Connor and Souter reversed and remanded the matter for further proceedings. In this case they were concerned with an employer's gender-based fetal-protection policy. The question was whether an employer could exclude a fertile female employee from certain jobs because of its concern for the health of the fetus the woman might conceive. Occupational exposure to lead entails health risks that include the risk of harm to any fetus carried by a woman subjected to such exposure. After eight employees of Johnson Controls in whose battery manufacturing process lead was a primary ingredient, became pregnant while maintaining blood-lead levels in excess of the level that appeared to be the critical level noted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for a woman who was planning to have a family, the employer announced a policy barring all women, except those whose inability to bear children was medically documented, from jobs involving exposure or potential exposure to lead at a level exceeding OSHA standards. Basically the employer in this case had implemented a policy that excluded women who were pregnant or capable of bearing children from being placed in jobs involving lead exposure. The court held that employer's fetal-protection policy explicitly discriminated against women on the basis of their sex. The court ruled that this sex-based discrimination was not permissible. Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C.S. § 2000e (k), for all Title VII purposes, discrimination based on a woman's pregnancy was on its face discrimination because of her sex. Despite evidence about the debilitating effect of lead exposure on the male reproductive system, employer's policy only addressed female employees. Thus, the policy was not neutral. The absence of a malevolent notice did not convert the facially discriminatory policy into a neutral policy with a discriminatory effect. The court also held that this discrimination could not be justified as a BFOQ. Discrimination under the safety exception to the BFOQ was allowed only in narrow circumstances. Danger to the women did not justify the discrimination. The court felt that the bias in Johnson Controls' policy was more than obvious. Fertile men, but not fertile women, are given a choice as to whether they wish to risk their reproductive health for a particular job (Case Law, 2009).

Although the overall ruling in this case was unanimous Justices White, Rehnquist, Kennedy and Scalia dissented in part from this holding on the grounds that although the Court properly held that Johnson Controls' fetal-protection policy overtly discriminated against women, and thus was prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 they erroneously held that the BFOQ defense is so narrow that it could never justify a sex-specific fetal-protection policy.

The language of both the BFOQ provision set forth in Title VII which allows an employer to discriminate on the basis… READ MORE

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