Suits In The WorkPlace

This could be an interesting religious practice to accommodate in your local cubicle farm: the Islamic head of the "Teachings of the Prophet Mohammed" department at a prestigious university in Egypt recently issued a religious edict-a "fatwa"-giving his blessing to adult men breast-feeding from female coworkers as a way of accommodating Islamic rules prohibiting unrelated men and women from being alone together at work. Under Islamic law, breast-feeding can establish a type of maternal relationship between a child and a woman, even when the woman is not the child's natural mother. The cleric, Ezzat Attiya, determined after lengthy study (of what I can only guess) that the same rule would apply to adults. Accordingly, following his logic, a man nursing from a female coworker would have a family bond with the woman and they would be able to work side by side without raising suspicion of an illicit sexual liaison. 

Right.  Professor Attiya is now facing a disciplinary panel at the university, this kind of legal creativity not being appreciated in certain, high level circles.

The article is here. Thanks to the Wall Street OpinionJournal.

I've made a reference before concerning direct evidence of discrimination that sometimes arises in employment cases, but I've also noted that these cases are rare enough that they deserve to be pointed out. Business education being what it is these days, you just don't see hiring managers making flat out statements that they don't want old people, black people, women, or the disabled working for them because they are old, black, female, or disabled.

But apparently the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Omaha could not find the cash for that particular human resources training program, at least at the time the facts in this case (Perkins, et al. v.  The Funny Bone Comedy Club of Omaha, Inc., No.  8:06 CV44)  arose. Having shut down one of its restaurants, the Bone began interviewing to staff a new club and hiring waitstaff and others for the positions. A number of the former female waitstaff applied for positions at the new club, but only one of the women, who were all over 40, was actually interviewed and she ultimately was not hired. Four of the former waitstaff sued, alleging age discrimination.

Over the course of the depositions in this case, the club manager admitted stating in the presence of one of the plaintiffs that she intended to hire only "cute 20 year olds with perky breasts and nice butts because that's what people want to see." She also did not deny such statements as "if we did not have a bunch of old moms as waitresses," perhaps younger people would come to the club; and that the club owner stated that he was not going to hire any of the old waitstaff who had sagging breasts. There were several other comments alleged, but I think you get the picture.

For its part, the Bone tried to argue that some of these comments were made only in jest and that they were the kind of "stray remarks" that courts typically disregard when not made by decision-maker.

Uh, no. Once senior management starts tossing around words like "perky" in an anatomical context, you've got age discrimination problems. The court easily spotted this as direct evidence, at least in terms of the summary judgment proceeding, and went on to note that even if it wasn't direct evidence, it provided indirect proof sufficient to get the case to a jury. Anyone doubt what a jury would do with this kind of evidence? Safety tip here-leave the old people jokes to the performers, not to your hiring managers.