Plaintiffs: Dianne Rawlinson and all female applicants for the position of corrections counselor with the Alabama Board of Corrections
Defendants: E.C. Dothard, Director of the Department of Public Safety; the Alabama Board of Corrections; Judson Locke, Commissioner of the Board of Corrections and other state corrections and personnel officials
Date(s) of Disposition:
06/27/1977: United States Supreme Court decision (433 U.S. 321, 97 S. Ct. 2720)
Opening doors for women
At 5'3" and 115 pounds, 22-year old Dianne Rawlinson applied to become a correctional counselor with the Alabama prison system. Her education credentials were impressive, but she failed to meet the weight requirement of 120 pounds.
Rawlinson filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging sex discrimination. The Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Rawlinson and another woman, Brenda Meith, who had been refused a position as a state trooper. Like Rawlinson, Meith did not meet state height and weight requirements.
At trial, the Law Center argued that the height and weight requirements had no actual relationship to the job requirements, and 33% of women would be excluded from employment as prison guards and state troopers by the statutory height requirements and 22% by the minimum weight requirements.
The trial court ruled in favor of Meith and Rawlinson, but the Board of Corrections appealed Rawlinson's part of the case to a higher court. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling, agreeing that the height and weight requirements discriminated against women and bore no relationship to the job.
The landmark decision opened doors for women to be hired in law enforcement jobs that had traditionally been reserved for men.
