I can’t make this stuff up if I tried.
The Associated Press reports that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commissions has ordered a local employer to pay $38,700 in back pay and interest to a female employee it fired for fighting at a cheese-making plant. According to the report, Rosalind Brown prevailed on her gender discrimination claim because she apparently received harsher discipline than male employees who had engaged in more egregious behavior:
The commission agreed with Rosalind Brown who claims it was unfair for her to be fired when two men who fought at the Dairy Farmers of America Inc. plant in West Middlesex received only 3-day suspensions. 1 of the men was injured when the other threw a 20-pound block of cheese.
Commission chairman Stephen Glassman commented, “Employers cannot discipline male and female workers differently based on stereotypical expectations of how men and women should behave.”