Kraft, Inc. v. State, No. 48906.

• Decision Date: 14 September 1979
• Docket Number: No. 48906.
• Citation: 284 NW 2d 386
• Parties: KRAFT, INC., petitioner, Respondent, v. STATE of Minnesota, by William L. Wilson, Commissioner, Department of Human Rights, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

284 N.W.2d 386 (1979)

KRAFT, INC., petitioner, Respondent, v. STATE of Minnesota, by William L. Wilson, Commissioner, Department of Human Rights, Appellant.

No. 48906.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

September 14, 1979.

Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Richard B. Allyn, Sol. Gen., and Mark B. Levinger, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for appellant.

Felhaber, Larson, Fenlon & Vogt and David R. Hols, St. Paul, Janet Skaare Morris, Kraft, Inc., Glenview, Ill., for respondent.

Donald E. Horton, Jr., Labor Relations Agency, Northwest Airlines, Inc., St. Paul, for amicus curiae.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

SHERAN, Chief Justice.

This appeal by the Commissioner of the Department of Human Rights arises from an order of the district court of Ramsey County. The district court held that a nepotism employment policy adopted by respondent Kraft, Inc. does not violate Minn. Stat. § 363.03, subd. 1 (1978) proscribing employment discrimination based on marital status. Petitioner contests this determination. We reverse.

Gloria Scheid, Marlene Kraus, Kathy Petterson and Elaine Pregler, part-time employees of the Kraft, Inc. plant at New Ulm, Minnesota, sought more desirable full-time positions with the company. Because each was married to a full-time employee of the company, Kraft invoked its policy prohibiting full-time employment of more than one member of an immediate family. The Kraft rule defined immediate family as "father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, stepson or stepdaughter, brother, sister and in-laws" at a single facility.¹

Between November 1974 and September 1975, these employees filed charges with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights claiming that Kraft's policy constituted discrimination based on marital status. The Commission issued a complaint on January 25, 1977. The Hearing Examiner of the Department of Human Rights sustained the Commission's position. The subsequent reversal of the Hearing Examiner by the district court precipitated this appeal.

In our opinion, absent a compelling and overriding bona fide occupational qualification, an antinepotism employment rule denying full-time employment to individuals married to persons already employed full time by the employer constitutes a discriminatory practice based on marital status within the meaning of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Section 363.03, subd. 1 of the Minnesota Human Rights Act² provides in relevant part:

Except when based on a bona fide occupational qualification, it is an unfair employment practice:

* * * * * *

(2) For an employer, because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, disability, or age,

(a) to refuse to hire or to maintain a system of employment which unreasonably excludes a person seeking employment; or

* * * * * *

(c) to discriminate against a person with respect to his hire, tenure, compensation, terms, upgrading, conditions, facilities, or privileges of employment.

The individuals here involved, married to full-time employees of respondent, were denied full-time employment precisely because of their marital status. By including marital status within the parameters of the Human Rights Act, the legislature clearly intended to outlaw arbitrary classifications relating to marriage. This legislative judgment reflects the protected status the institution of marriage enjoys in our society. See, e. g., Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965). Indeed, the United States Supreme Court has recognized as fundamental under the equal protection and due process clauses the right to freedom of choice in the marriage relationship. Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1817, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010 (1967). Acknowledging the fundamental nature of this relationship, the legislature in drafting the Minnesota Human Rights Act intended that only where a business necessity is compelling and overriding may an employer differentiate on the basis of marital status. To justify such an employment policy, an employer must advance a bona fide occupational qualification which will withstand the strict scrutiny of a reviewing court. Mere business convenience is insufficient.

We reject the view that "marital status," while it denotes the fact that one is or is not married, does not embrace the identity or situation of one's spouse. Since respondent does employ married, single and divorced individuals, to hold otherwise would condone discrimination against a portion of a protected class, i. e., job applicants already married to full-time Kraft employees. Accord, Washington Water Power Co. v. Washington State Human Rights Commission, 91 Wash.2d 62, 586 P.2d 1149 (1978); contra Thomson v. Sanborn's Motor Express, 154 N.J.Super. 555, 382 A.2d 53 (1977). To do so would ignore the broad prohibition against arbitrary...