Court Opinion

ID: 9853638
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:51:27.144987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:56.821120
License: Public Domain

*63CROCKETT, Justice
(dissenting).
In preface to what is said below I assert my unreserved commitment to and belief in the justice of the principle that every person should be entitled to enjoy equally all rights, privileges and immunities consistent with recognizing and respecting equally basic rights in others; and that this should include equal pay for equal work, and equal recognition and reward for merit, without discrimination based only on sex.1 However, this right, just like all rights, is not a sole and absolute right to be asserted and exercised to the exclusion of all others, but should be considered and applied in its proper relationship to them. This is pointed out by Chief Justice Ellett in relation to the employer’s right in his property, which includes the right to contract with respect thereto.
It seems to me unnecessary to confront the issue as to the unconstitutionality of the statute and to strike it down entirely. I say this because it is our duty to so interpret and apply a statute that it is constitutional if that can be done. The statute in question has a salutary purpose in harmony with Sec. 1 of Art. IV of our Utah Constitution. If it is applied in a manner consistent with recognizing other equally important constitutional rights, it can stand and carry out that purpose wherever it is properly applicable.
I make no pretensions to the artfulness to persuade any aficionado on either side of the subject of “women’s lib” which seems to be so controversial of late. But it is my impression that we are often confusing the allowances that must be made because of the obvious “differences” between the sexes with claimed “inequalities.” Notwithstanding the fairness and justice of honoring the equalities referred to above, the fact must be recognized and dealt with that there are many and multiplex (not just one) differences between the sexes; and that the fact that there are such innate differences is one of the simple yet complex facts of life that in a less sophisticated (or less confused) era was something to be accepted, appreciated and honored.
'Correlated to this was the realization that those differences in some instances make one sex more suitable than the other for certain activities and occupations. Witness, e. g., some of the more violent aspects of living, such as in fighting a war, or in the rougher competitive sports, in which such differences are so obvious. Further note that a plumber, a welder, or a brick layer, may both want and need a helper with certain qualifications, one of which is that he be of the male sex. Conversely, a dentist or a doctor may for his own reasons prefer a nurse or an assistant of the female sex. Similarly, though perhaps not for exactly the same reasons, a young man may be under some sort of an illusion that he wants to choose his partner for the Junior Prom partly on the basis of sex.
It is of the utmost importance to keep in mind that the sustaining of our system of individual freedoms depends upon the preservation of individual initiative and free enterprise; and that this in turn depends upon an employer’s right to own and hold property, to enter into contracts,2 and to operate his business according to his own judgment as to the most efficient and desirable way to assure its success.
The main opinion places considerable emphasis on the proposition that the determination of this personal relationship and the rights dependent thereon is equitable in nature.3 Accepting that proposition, the interests of justice require that the total situation should be analyzed in a sensible and practical way, including not only the right of non-discrimination on account of sex that the employee is entitled to, but with due consideration for other rights and interests, including the rights of the employer, and the welfare of society generally. It is my *64opinion that if those interests are weighed in their proper relationship to each other, and to the evidence in this case, considerations of justice and equity lead to the conclusion that what happened to Ms. Alsop was the result of other factors involved in her employment and her relationship to it, but was not attributable to her employer unlawfully discriminating against her on account of sex; and that therefore that finding and the judgment thereon should not be permitted to stand.

. Utah Const., Art. IV, Sec. 1; U.C.A.1953, 34-35-1 et seq.

. Art. I, Sec. 1, Utah Const.; Golding v. Schubach Optical Co., 93 Utah 32, 70 P.2d 871.

. Footnote 2, main opinion.