Barker v. Taft Broadcasting Co

In Barker v. Taft Broadcasting Co., 549 F.2d 400 (6th Cir., 1977), the Court dealt with a grooming code for both men and women employees which prescribed different restrictions on the hair styles of each sex and found no discrimination on the basis of sex "within the traditional meaning of that term." Id. at 401. The Barker holding is in harmony with such decisions as that of the Fifth Circuit in Causey v. Ford Motor Company, 516 F.2d 416 (1975), which denied a claim of discrimination based on the maintenance of separate restrooms for men and women. As long as workers of each sex are provided adequate facilities there is no discrimination. The district court cited Smith v. Troyan, 520 F.2d 492 (6th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 934, 96 S.Ct. 2646, 49 L.Ed.2d 385 (1976), which was not a Title VII case. There the court applied a "rational relationship" test to find that minimum height requirements for police officers were constitutionally permissible while minimum weight requirements were not. These requirements had been attacked by the plaintiff on equal protection grounds.