As Cortney and Katie reported Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence caught a lot of unnecessary flak for rules he’s established for himself to avoid infidelity or even talk of impropriety, such as never dining alone with a woman who is not his wife, not attending an event where alcohol is served without his wife by his side, and requiring that aides who work late with him be male.
This apparently came as a shock to the left. Some compared it to Sharia Law while others said it was sexist and an antiquated practice. Clearly this arrangement “means he won’t hire women in key spots,” right?
On Friday, not only has the dust not settled on this non-story, but Vox ran a piece suggesting Pence’s practice is “probably illegal.”
The story, written by employment lawyer Joanna L. Grossman, argues that Pence’s rule “isn’t honorable” but likely violates Title VII as sex discrimination.
[T]he practice described by Pence in that 2002 interview is clearly illegal when practiced by a boss in an employment setting, and deeply damaging to women’s employment opportunities.Title VII, which governs workplace discrimination, does not allow employers to treat people differently on the basis of certain protected characteristics, one of which is sex. This means that an employer cannot set the terms and conditions of employment differently for one gender than for the other. This includes any aspect of the relationship between employer and employees — extending to benefits like equal access to the employer.
By law, working dinners with the boss could be considered an opportunity to which both sexes must have equal access.
The article was quickly mocked by conservatives.
I made a joke late last night that today's Pence fidelity stories would be even stupider. I wish I'd been wrong. pic.twitter.com/ilE6oVWy3I
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) March 31, 2017
@MZHemingway Tomorrow it will violate International Law.
— Casey Mattox (@CaseyMattox_) March 31, 2017
now it's illegal to choose best way for you as a couple to safeguard your marriage. If this is wrong, I don't want to be right. #icanteven https://t.co/NeXqITqgy0
— Tammy (@tamrache99) March 31, 2017
...and this is why you keep losing elections. https://t.co/eRDDhHYUXP
— ConfessionalPresby (@OldSchoolPresby) March 31, 2017
Unfortunately, it’s not just Vox going to the extreme about the Pences’ arrangement. The Vancouver Sun published an article saying the vice president's rule about dining is “rape culture at work.”
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