European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 24, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday april 24, 1991 the stars and Stripe James j. Kilpatrick or. Page 13 commentary let us look a Little closer if you please at the supreme courts opinion of March 20 in the Lead Battery Case. The High court May have created a situation in which employers will be damned if they do and damned if they done to. The opinion set off a jubilation chorus in the ranks of women a liberation. Ecstatic cries arose this was the most significant judicial opinion in its Field since Roe is. Wade 18 years ago. The movement toward sexual Equality had taken a quantum leap. Five justices had agreed that women have the same right that men have to risk harm to their reproductive organs if they choose. All right Hooray. To the extent that the opinion opens Job opportunities for women working in jobs that involve radiation or chemical reaction bully Tor the court. For one reason or another in the name of a Bona fide occupational qualification women historically have been denied Access to risky jobs that Are open to men. All nine members of the High court agreed that such discrimination is unlawful. The facts in the Lead Battery Case Are not in dispute. Johnson controls inc. Is a manufacturer of Lead batteries. Prolonged exposure to Lead creates a serious risk to the reproductive capacity of both men and women. For several years the company formally warned women employees of this risk. Then in 1982, the company went beyond a warning. It instituted a policy prohibiting women a who Are capable of having children from working at stations of substantial risk. In 1984 a group of employees went to court. They contended that the policy amounted to discrimination against women by reason of sex. Women were being denied promotions and higher wages because of the Rule. Male employees were not similarly affected. The company policy said the plaintiffs violated both the Basic civil rights act of 1964 and the newer pregnancy discrimination act of 1978. In its opinion of March 20, the High court agreed. A the Bias in Johnson controls policy is obvious a said Justice Harry Blackmun. Despite evidence about the Adverse effects of Lead exposure on the male reproductive system the company was concerned a Only with the harms that May befall the unborn offspring of its female the Law will riot tolerate such Patent discrimination. Very Well. Blackmun insisted that the courts opinion was a neither remarkable nor unprecedented a but in that assertion he was like the Queen who did protest too much. This was indeed a remarkable decision in part because it engenders civil wrongs in the name of expanding women a rights. The manufacturer in this Case was not being paternal. It was not the compassion of the employer but the Walter r. Mears prudence of his lawyers that generated the offending policy. Johnson Wasny to afraid of damaging a fetus. Johnson was afraid of being sued. That quite reasonable apprehension will be enlarged by the courts opinion. Justice Byron White explained Why a common sense tells us that it is part of the Normal operation of business concerns to avoid causing injury to third parties As Well As to employees if for no other reason that to avoid tort liability and its substantial costs. This possibility of tort liability is not hypothetical. Every state currently allows children born alive to recover in tort for prenatal injuries caused by third parties. A warnings May preclude claims by injured employees but they will not preclude claims by injured children because the general Rule is that parents cannot waive causes of action on behalf of their children and the parents negligence will not be imputed to the Justice Blackmun denied that the court had placed employers in an untenable position but his denial lacked conviction. He said that As Long As an employer a fully informs a woman of a Given risk a the basis for holding an employer liable seems Remote at give the litigious nature of our society the risk of liability is Likely to strike an employer As very close at hand. What we have Here is catch-22 if a company denies Job opportunities on account of sex it will get sued by an ambitious woman. If it accords equal Opportunity eventually it May be sued by a deformed child. These Are not appealing alternatives. A a v. A a under these circumstances Congress could help by enacting a carefully fashioned Law to protect employers Short of Gross negligence from the consequences of women s liberation. An employer ought not to be punished for doing what the High court commands. 1. A c Universal press Syndicate test rationale of democrats politically it is the dark Side of the peace dividend a defense cuts that mean closed military bases and lost jobs. Installations in 20 states Are on the shutdown list and As usual politicians want the Money saved in somebody else a territory. A a a a a a a. A a. So there la be a season of angry speeches and intensive lobbying before an eight member commission turns in its take it or leave it recommendation for base closings due by july 1. Under the process Congress set up to spread around the blame a and avoid the political paralysis that for years kept it from closing any bases at All a the final list cannot be amended Only approved or rejected in the House and Senate. A. A its the second time that system has been used. Until the first in 1988, Congress had not closed a major military base in 11 years. In that round the commission recommended that 16 of 495 major military bases in the United states be closed. Congress agreed. They were closed in the name of Economy and efficiency before the end of the cold War changed the military Outlook and led to the budget cuts expected Well into the 1990s. A so circumstances have changed for the second round of base closings. The administration expects Active duty forces to be reduced by about 25 percent by 1997. The new Pentagon hit list recommends closing 31 major bases and 12 smaller ones. A. A i done to need to spend Money main Taining bases that done to have forces on them a. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney told the commission april 15. Closings done to mean Quick savings. It costs Money at first to shut Down bases. It also takes time. The first base closing on the list approved by Congress in 1989, Pease fab in Newington n.h., shut Down on april 1. Cheney said his latest proposal would save More than $800 million during the next five years and about $1.7 billion a year after that. A a that a Money we wont have to spend keeping open facilities that we done to need a he said a and that a Money that we will therefore be Able to spend on other requirements weapon systems modernization recruitment. Training All those other things that go into the defense tilde priorities Are vital to maintain the equipment and keep the personnel so a future administration can act in a crisis like the persian Gulf War he said. A has told me what my top lines going to be and the message is Cut the budget a Cheney said. A i done to know any Way to do that except to take Down Force structures shut Down production lines close bases and Stop spending Money. A and one of the fallout of that will be economic Impact on some a Varcas a he said. And that can Cost a congressman votes. Cheney who had unsuccessfully proposed closing some bases last year sent the new panel a new list with some old names on it and the political arguments began again. Cheney said the notion that there is Republican political gain to be made in the process a is just but when word leaked out in Advance that fort Devons in Ayer mass., would be on the Cheney list rep. Chester d. Atkins the Democrat who represents the District involved accused the administration of trying to punish Massachusetts because its All Democrat congressional delegation voted against the Resolution that authorized the persian Gulf War. Sen. Edward m. Kennedy d-mass., interceded with Cheney but the base stayed on the list. Sen. John Kerry d-mass., also called it treachery. Atkins said it was malicious. Rep. Joe Moakley d-mass., said most of the bases seemed to in democratic strongholds although other democrats have said the count is not uneven among the larger bases on the list .19 Are in democratic districts 14 in re pub. Lican. A i think our delegation has been very unified a Atkins said in a television interview after the list was issued a i think we be been very rational about it and we Haven to gone ballistic. Not yet anyhow. C the Asso Baiod press 1 a the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government
