Last Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a dentist acted legally when he fired his assistant because he found her to be irresistibly attractive, and the dentist and his wife considered the assistant to be a threat to their marriage. The all-male high court ruled 7-0 in favor of the dentist's action.
In case you haven't heard, the assistant Melissa Nelson worked for Dr. James Knight for 10 years, and he considered her to be an excellent employee. Reportedly, six months before Melissa was fired, she and her boss began exchanging text messages about work and personal matters. Dr. Knight's wife, who also works in the same office, found out about the messages and demanded that the assistant be fired. Reportedly, Dr. Knight consulted with his pastor who also agreed that the assistant should be fired.Wait a minute, not so fast. I am all for doing what's in the best interest of saving a person's marriage, but the good doctor is certainly not without fault here. He crossed a line in the workplace that should not have been crossed. His wife worked in the same office, and he was exchanging personal messages with another man's wife. This was just a disaster waiting to happen. That's why the Bible warns us, concerning another woman, "Lust not after her beauty in your heart; neither let her take you with her eyelids" (Proverbs 6:25).
Every real man knows a beautiful woman when he sees one. But what makes a woman irresistibly attractive? No, that's not quite the right question. I mean what makes a married woman irresistibly attractive to a married man? I submit that this question speaks to a matter of the man's heart, one that needs to be given due attention. As for this recent Iowa case, the doctor's getting rid of the employee may not necessarily solve his problem.A woman should not be punished in the workplace just because God blessed her with beauty that some men find irresistible. Rather, it is incumbent upon each of us to conduct ourselves properly in the workplace. At least that's how it works in the office where I work. In my opinion, the recent Iowa court ruling failed to embrace this important point.
Copyright ©2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.
