In the case of Gillette Co. v. Miner, 1982, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gillette Company against its employee, Robert Miner. The dispute arose when Mr. Miner was denied a promotion due to his lack of a college degree despite having worked for the company for over two decades and holding various managerial positions during that time period. He filed suit alleging age discrimination under both federal and state laws after being passed over for younger employees with less experience but who held degrees. The court found no evidence supporting Mr.Miner's claim that he was discriminated against based on his age or any other protected class status as defined by law; rather it concluded that Gillette had legitimate business reasons (educational requirements) for promoting others instead of him. This decision set an important precedent regarding employment discrimination cases: employers can legally use factors such as education level in their hiring/promotion decisions provided they are not used as proxies to discriminate based on race, sex, religion or other protected classes.

In the dissenting opinion for Gillette Co. v. Miner, Justice Brennan disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and its application to pregnancy-related disabilities. He argued that by allowing employers to treat pregnant employees differently from other temporarily disabled employees, the Court was perpetuating discrimination against women in violation of Title VII’s mandate for equal employment opportunity regardless of sex. In his view, an employer policy that does not provide disability benefits or leave for pregnancy while providing such benefits for other temporary disabilities is inherently discriminatory because it treats a condition unique to women less favorably than similar conditions affecting both sexes.