Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls

A question still remained for Johnson Controls about the company's liability if fertile women were not excluded from hazardous work. Blackmun conceded that more than 40 states permitted lawsuits to recover for prenatal injuries. However, the right to recover in the cases was uniformly based on negligence or on wrongful death. Johnson Controls had the power, to "comply with the lead standard developed by OSHA and warn its female employees about the damaging effects of lead."

Therefore, Blackmun rejected the tort liability claim, saying: "If . . . Title VII bans sex-specific fetal protection policies, the employer fully informs the women of the risk, and the employer has not acted negligently, the basis for holding an employer liable seems remote at best."

Perhaps anticipating a mixed reaction to this decision, Blackmun concluded that "our holding today that Title VII, as so amended . . . is neither remarkable nor unprecedented. Concern for a woman's existing or potential offspring historically has been the excuse for denying women equal employment opportunities . . . It is no more appropriate for the courts than it is for individual employers to decide whether a woman's reproductive role is more important to herself and her family than her economic role. Congress has left this choice to the woman as hers to make."