Court Opinion

ID: 9634707
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:21:27.312758+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:43:06.457783
License: Public Domain

LOKEN, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Apparently, the majority would hold that an employer violates Title VII if it declines to hire a female cheerleader because she is not pretty enough, or a male fashion model because he is not handsome enough, unless the employer proves the affirmative defense that physical appearance is a bona fide occupational qualification. Like the district court, I conclude this is an unwarranted misreading of the plurality and concurring opinions in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 104 L.Ed.2d 268 (1989). In my view, an employer’s decision to hire or fire based on a person’s physical appearance is not discrimination “because of ... sex” unless it is a pretext for disadvantaging women candidates, as the trial court found in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. As there is no evidence of that here, I would affirm for the reasons stated in the district court’s persuasive and thorough Order on Motion for Summary Judgment dated November 13, 2008.