Sup Ct Declines To Review Legality Of Romantically Motivated Favoritism
The United States Supreme Court has declined to review a case in which the Seventh Circuit held that an employer did not discriminate against a male sales employee based on gender when he was removed from a large account at the insistence of a female supervisor who allegedly had a romantic relationship with one of the buyer's executives. The Court of Appeals concluded that, even if the female supervisor was favored due to the alleged relationship, it would not constitute discrimination against the employee because of his sex. The Court of Appeals had previously held that a male executive's romantically motivated favoritism toward a female subordinate is not sex discrimination even when it disadvantages a male competitor of the woman. A woman would be just as likely as a man to be disadvantaged by this type of favoritism. The same principle applied in the case at bar because any alleged favoritism would have equally disadvantaged a man or a woman in the employee's position.
Jenkins v. Lifetime Hoan Corp.