Not with Your Husband (or Wife) You Don't! the Legality of No Spouse Rules in the Workplace

Abstract

Many employers have rules against the joint employment of spouses. These rules have been challenged on the basis that they constitute marital status discrimination. The basis of these challenges has usually been one of three types: a) an unconstitutional infringement on the right to marry, b) a violation of state prohibitions against marital status discrimination, or c) the rule creates unlawful disparate impact. While these challenges have met with mixed success, the greatest number of favorable rulings have occurred based on b) above.