Johnson v. University of Iowa
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
431 F.3d 325 (2005)
- Written by Arlyn Katen, JD
Facts
David Johnson (plaintiff) and his wife, Jennie Embree, both worked at the University of Iowa (the university) (defendant) when Embree became pregnant. Johnson worked full-time in the university’s registrar’s office, and Embree worked part-time at the university’s nursing college. Under the university’s parental-leave policy, biological mothers and all adoptive parents could use accrued sick time as parental leave, but that benefit did not extend to biological fathers. Johnson sued, arguing that the parental-leave policy’s biological-father exclusion was sex-based discrimination that violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Johnson argued that the policy was facially discriminatory. Johnson also claimed that the policy was discriminatory as applied because even if the university characterized the policy as pregnancy-related disability leave, Embree actually used it for childcare and bonding. The district court granted the university’s summary-judgment motion, and Johnson appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Melloy, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
