They Were So Nice I'll Sue

Michael P. Maslanka reports on what can happen when an employer tries to do something nice:

The majority opinion sketches out the key facts. An employee is a welder, working out in the summer heat. She becomes pregnant. Her employer moves her to work in the tool room because her managers think it will be a safer environment for her. It’s the same pay and same hours. It is cooler and less arduous of a job because she has a small fan and does not need to wear all the protective gear she needs as a welder. So what's her beef? In something that sounds like an episode of "Oprah," the majority, in partially reversing the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the employer, finds that "Spees appears to have felt unchallenged by her tool-room position, testifying that she found it to be ‘more boring’ than welding." It looks like the nebulous idea of job fulfillment is now in play in determining the existence of an “adverse” employment action.