United Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc.

United Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 10, 1990 Decided March 21, 1991
Full case name	International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers Of America, UAW, et al. vs. Johnson Controls, Inc.
Docket nos.	89-1215
Citations	499 U.S. 187 (more)
Argument	Oral argument
Opinion announcement	Opinion announcement
Holding
Title VII, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, forbids sex-specific fetal-protection policies, as incapability of becoming pregnant is not a "bona fide occupational qualification."
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · John P. Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · David Souter
Case opinions
Majority	Blackmun, joined by Marshall, Stevens, O'Connor, Souter
Concurrence	White, joined by Rehnquist, Kennedy
Concurrence	Scalia
Laws applied
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978

United Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc. 499 U.S. 187 (1991) is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States establishing that private sector policies which allow men but not women to knowingly work in potentially hazardous occupations is gender discrimination and violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. At the time the case was heard, it was considered one of the most important sex-discrimination cases since the passage of Title VII.

The majority opinion held that that Title VII prohibits gender specific fetal protection policies. Hence based on that statute, the Court decided against Johnson Controls by concluding that the company’s fetal protection policy contravened Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the PDA; and the company's gender-specific rule was biased and inequitable because it permitted fertile men, but not fertile women, to decide whether to work in jobs subjected to lead exposure while manufacturing batteries.

United Auto Workers (UAW) is the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, a North American labor organization.