Bloomberg's victory in a pregnancy discrimination case is once again bringing out the "feminists" who say that demanding hard work discriminates against women. [NYT; The Hill; Reuters; Careerist] Judge Loretta Preska disagrees:
At bottom, the EEOC's theory of this case is about so-called work/life balance. Absent evidence of a pattern of discriminatory conduct . . . the EEOC's pattern or practice claim does not demonstrate a policy of discrimination at Bloomberg. It amounts to a judgment that Bloomberg, as a company policy, does not provide work/life balance.
I guess I can officially declare a trend on the work-life balance issue. Employers and employees can certainly negotiate the appropriate scope of work-life balance; if judges or juries are permitted to hold certain work-life options impermissible, the effect on the economy from the social engineering would be disastrous. Especially since there is no indication that the legislature made any sort of decision that they were outlawing the requiring of hard work when they passed Title VII.