Dental assistant fired for being luscious

[QuickSilver]

@CalMeacham

They can’t do that.
Where will they find another man of his calibre?

ba-da-bump tish!

Nonesense. They’re all cannon fodder.

[Czarcasm]

But in the final months of her employment, he complained that her tight clothing was distracting, once telling her that if his pants were bulging that was a sign her clothes were too revealing, according to the opinion.

And the wife is blaming the assistant instead of her husband? Although she had no interest in her boss and told him so, he said that he thought an affair was inevitable. Why isn’t he being sued for sexual harassment by the former assistant?

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

Because she shared details of her sex life with him voluntarily.

[Little_Nemo]

@astro

I’m not quite getting the outrage over this. The circumstances are unfortunate but in a certain context he did the most responsible thing possible.

If I was married with kids and was impossibly mentally and physically attracted to my assistant terminating them to save my marriage would be the wisest course of action. People do this all the time. His mistake was that he was overt about it.

I agree with this. It’s unfortunate that this has been framed as something the assistant was doing. But the dentist had a right to fire an employee if he found himself becoming too attracted to her. Yes, a stronger man would have been able to ignore this attraction he was feeling. But a person has to recognize their own limitations. The dentist didn’t think he could handle the situation of working with somebody he was attracted to so he ended it.

However, I don’t agree that he was necessarily wrong in being honest about his reasons. He would have been wrong if he had made up some false accusation of incompetence to cover up his real reason for firing her.

[DiosaBellissima]

Yeah! Maybe she should have just been less attractive or something if she wanted to be gainfully employed. After all, it makes perfect sense to punish a woman because a man can’t control himself.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

She’s not being punished. It’s an “at will” employment state, and she was terminated for a reason that is not prohibited. I am hugely troubled by the fact that she can be fired because of his lack of self-control, but it’s hard to see how she has a legal remedy.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

This is just like Horrible Bosses, but in reverse!

[Cat_Whisperer]

There’s so much going on in this story; so many people making so many questionable decisions. From the article:

Such firings may be unfair, but they are not unlawful discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act because they are motivated by feelings and emotions, not gender, Justice Edward Mansfield wrote.

I think they got that part right.

An attorney for Fort Dodge dentist James Knight said the decision, the first of its kind in Iowa, is a victory for family values because Knight fired Melissa Nelson in the interest of saving his marriage, not because she was a woman.

This part is bullshit. The article describes how Knight and Nelson were both making stupid decisions and blurring the boundaries of their marriages; if they had both kept those boundaries in place, the firing would not have been necessary.

That all said, if dentist James Knight hadn’t been such an idiot and fired her with a reasonable excuse like, “There just isn’t enough work, so we have to let you go,” we wouldn’t even be hearing about this. “I have to let you go because I can’t keep my dick in my pants” is ridiculous.

[DiosaBellissima]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

She’s not being punished. It’s an “at will” employment state, and she was terminated for a reason that is not prohibited. I am hugely troubled by the fact that she can be fired because of his lack of self-control, but it’s hard to see how she has a legal remedy.

He may have been legally entitled to fire her because she gave him a chubby, but that doesn’t change the fact that in the bigger picture, the woman here is being punished for the lack of male self control. Disgusting.

[Count_Blucher]

@DiosaBellissima

After all, it makes perfect sense to punish a woman because a man can’t control himself.

It can make you mad enough to spit.

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

but it’s hard to see how she has a legal remedy.

Oh, she’ll give him a good cleaning…
*And if I sunk this practice over your heart
Encircling you with suits and AP wire,
Well, I cannot fill this bridge,
(cause I’m staring down your chasm)
I’ll try to save my marriage, So You’re Fired…!
*

[carnivorousplant]

@ekedolphin

Jeez, the least he could have done is find her a job with one of his friends in the industry.

And give her a very good letter of recommendation for future use.

Although if I could fire folks for wearing stinky cologne…

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

The obvious solution would have been for the dentist to arrange a threesome with her and his wife, then everyone’s happy.

[carnivorousplant]

@DiosaBellissima

He may have been legally entitled to fire her because she gave him a chubby, but that doesn’t change the fact that in the bigger picture, the woman here is being punished for the lack of male self control. Disgusting.

Agreed.

[control-z]

I don’t see what the problem is, an employer and employee have an agreement where the employer pays the employee an agreed-upon amount and the employee provides services in return (not those sort of services you prevert.) The employer or employee should be able to terminate that agreement at any time. Couldn’t the assistant quit if she found the boss too attractive?

[carnivorousplant]

@control-z

I don’t see what the problem is, an employer and employee have an agreement where the employer pays the employee an agreed-upon amount and the employee provides services in return (not those sort of services you prevert.) The employer or employee should be able to terminate that agreement at any time. Couldn’t the assistant quit if she found the boss too attractive?

I think the dentist is strange for not being able to metaphorically keep it in his pants.

[67java89]

@aceplace57

Yeah, this story was way over sensationalized. This lady had worked with the dentist 10 years. Wore scrubs and was a typical looking soccer mom. Thats why I said earlier this was more like an emotional attraction. You gotta keep your distance from people that you are emotionally drawn too.

Article with pictures.
Can’t imagine why this guy didn’t just didn’t terminate her without bringing up the sex distraction excuse. That’s just tacky and dumb. Give her a couple weeks severance pay and a really good letter of recommendation.

If she’s a dental hygienist then that’s a skilled job. She shouldn’t have any problems getting hired by another dentist.

The Knights both look crazy, IMO

[lawbuff]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

She’s not being punished. It’s an “at will” employment state, and she was terminated for a reason that is not prohibited. I am hugely troubled by the fact that she can be fired because of his lack of self-control, but it’s hard to see how she has a legal remedy.

Read the prior decision, the gravaman of the civil rights law was they are NOT “fairness” laws.

The ISC has vacated the decision to reconsider, and I will guess it will incorporate the “covenenant of good faith and fair dealing” into exceptions to at will, such as Monge v. Beebe Rubber, from memory.

Oh COA at the law library has good volumes on such, COA for wrongful discharge to at will employment.

[LawMonkey]

Y’know, it just occurred to me: This woman should be glad she’s not in Saudi Arabia. If she’s that hot, she might’ve been deported!

[Asimovian]

@Count_Blucher

*And if I sunk this practice over your heart
Encircling you with suits and AP wire,
Well, I cannot fill this bridge,
(cause I’m staring down your chasm)
I’ll try to save my marriage, So You’re Fired…!
*

Mr. Sumner would like to have a word with you, as soon as he’s done giggling.

[Little_Nemo]

@DiosaBellissima

Yeah! Maybe she should have just been less attractive or something if she wanted to be gainfully employed. After all, it makes perfect sense to punish a woman because a man can’t control himself.

Well, one of them had to go and the dentist would have had a hard time firing himself.

As I wrote, the assistant wasn’t at fault. She did nothing wrong. But her boss found he couldn’t work with her. So he fired her.