Opinion ID: 2967510
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the placement of the child with the employee

Text: for adoption. (b) Secondary care givers. — With the approval of the head of the employee’s principal department or other independent unit, an employee who is secondarily responsible for the care and nurturing of a child may use, without certification of illness or disability, up to 10 days of accrued sick leave KNUSSMAN v. STATE OF MARYLAND 29 to care for the child during the period immediately following: (1) the birth of the employee’s child; or (2) the placement of the child with the employee for adoption. Id. The statute makes no reference to a distinction on the basis of gender. Nonetheless, in response to Knussman’s request, Mullineaux told Knussman that he could not qualify as the primary care giver under the statute because he was a man. Based on these facts, it is imperative that any inquiries into the constitutional violation at issue focus on the liberties that Mullineaux took in her capacity as Manager of Medical Leave Benefits. The Majority misplaces its focus on comparing Mullineaux’s decision to that of legislators and agencies in order to determine the constitutionality of Mullineaux’s decision. The Majority concludes that Mullineaux’s decision is unconstitutional because she based her decision on stereotypical notions of male/female roles in society. It is true that when analyzing a legislative or state enactment on the basis of gender that the gender classification cannot be based on stereotypical notions, and must be substantially related to the achievement of an important government interest. However, this is not a situation where the state government or agency arrived at a calculated or reasoned decision to create a gender based statutory distinction to advance an important government interest. Cf. Heckler v. Matthews, 465 U.S. 728, 744, 751 (1984) (upholding limited gender based spousal benefit statute in order to protect a retiree’s reliance on prior provisions struck down as gender based provisions); Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County, 450 U.S. 464, 469-71 (1981) (upholding sex-based statutory rape law, which furthered an important government interest of preventing pregnancy); Rostker v. Goldberg, 453 U.S. 57, 78-79 (1981) (upholding legislative exclusion of women from draft because men and women are not similarly situated for combat). Mullineaux created her own classification that primary care giver equals a woman. By comparing Mullineaux’s actions to promulgated laws that make gender distinctions, the Majority mischaracter30 KNUSSMAN v. STATE OF MARYLAND izes the gravity of Mullineaux’s actions. Mullineaux engaged in the discriminatory application of Maryland’s gender neutral leave statute. The constitutional right at issue is defined in the plain text of the statute. Knussman had a right not to be discriminated against on the basis of his gender. This inquiry does not require consideration of whether the legislature drew a permissible distinction in law based on gender. The statute is completely devoid of gender classification. Significantly, the nurturing leave statute applies to adoption as well as the birth of a child; therefore, no biological gender classification is implied or inherent in the process of determining whether the leave applicant is a primary care giver or a secondary care giver. In 1994, Knussman sought leave as a primary care giver pursuant to the nurturing leave statute, which provided 30 days leave for primary care givers and ten days leave for secondary care givers for parents of newborns and newly adopted children. Cloaked with the authority as the Manager of Medical Leave Benefits for the Maryland State Department of Police, Mullineaux took it upon herself to interpret this gender neutral statute in a gender specific manner. Mullineaux categorically denied Knussman’s request for leave to care for his newborn daughter as a primary care giver because Knussman was a man. Knussman brought suit against Mullineaux, and others, for categorically denying him leave as a primary care giver because of his gender in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Therefore, for the purpose of analyzing Knussman’s claim, this Court must look at a person’s right not to have a gender neutral statute applied in a discriminatory manner and determine if such right was clearly established at the time of Mullineaux’s actions in 1994. In 1994, it was clearly established that a person should not be discriminated against on the basis of his gender by having a gender neutral statute applied to him in a discriminatory manner. In order for an identified right to be clearly established, the ‘contours of the right’ must be drawn in such a way as to provide notice to a reasonable person in the official’s position that his conduct violated the identified right. Amaechi v. West, 237 F.3d 356, 363 (4th Cir. 2001). By 1994, the Supreme Court conclusively drew the contours of the right to be free from gender discrimination in employment decisions, which are not substantially related to an important government interest. See David v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228, 234-35 (1979) (holding it violates KNUSSMAN v. STATE OF MARYLAND 31 the Fifth Amendment due process clause to fire a person because she is a woman); Caban v. Mohammed, 441 U.S. 380, 394 (1979) (holding that sex-based distinctions between unmarried mothers and unmarried fathers, in a domestic relations law provision, are unconstitutional because it bears no substantial relation to any important state interest); Califano v. Goldfarb, 430 U.S. 199, 206-7 (1977) (holding that a gender based distinction between widows and widowers violates the due process and equal protection clauses because they are based on archaic and over-broad generalizations); Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 197 (1976) (noting that the archaic and over-broad generalizations of women could not justify use of gender distinctions). In addition by 1994, the Supreme Court conclusively drew the contours of the right to be free from having a neutral statute applied in a discriminatory manner. See Snowden v. Hughes, 321 U.S. 1, 8 (1943) (holding that the unlawful administration of a statute fair on its face, resulting in its unequal application, is a denial of equal protection if it is shown to be intentional or purposeful discrimination present); Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 373-74 (1886) (holding that it is unconstitutional to administer a law that is fair on its face in an unequal manner). The established Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence in 1994 protected Knussman’s right to receive nurturing leave benefits under a gender neutral leave statute without his gender effecting or impeding such decision. Therefore, the right at issue was clearly established because the contours of the right to be free from discriminatory behavior afforded Mullineaux adequate notice that her interpretation of a gender neutral leave statute, which resulted in the gender based denial of a benefit, violated the Fourteenth Amendment.