WGU C233 Employment Law |577 questions with
verified answers
- a white medical school applicant challenged the University of California at Davis'
policy of setting aside 16% of admission spots for "disadvantaged" minority
applicants who could also compete in the standard applicant pool. Mr. Bakke was
qualified to be admitted, and he argued that the strict 16% standard was an
impermissible quota and unfair.
- While not dismissing the principles of AA, the Supreme Court agreed that the AA
method used by the university was unlawful, as it gave an unwarranted
advantage to minority applicants. Ans✓✓✓ Regents of the University of
California v. Bakke (Bakke)
- age and seniority are "analytically distinct" from each other in the ADEA context.
- a paper company's decision to terminate an employee because his pension was
about to "vest" did not violate the ADEA. That is, the decision was made due to
years of service and "vesting," not due to the employee's age.
- the Supreme Court noted that the ADEA was designed to eliminate practices
based upon the negative and unsupported age stereotypes of reduced
performance and competence and that the paper company's decision was not
motivated by these considerations.
* Notwithstanding the Hazen case, and because of the high correlation between
salary and age, federal courts are not unified regarding the issue of whether RIF
plans based solely on salary constitutes disparate impact under the ADEA.
Ans✓✓✓ Supreme Court in Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, 507 U.S. 604
- An important area of gender discrimination is the stereotyping of how a male or
how a female should act.
- a highly qualified female employee, Hopkins, was entitled to relief under Title VII
for being denied promotion at a prestigious accountancy firm because she did not
,conform to traditional views of how a woman should act at work. Ans✓✓✓ Price
Waterhouse v. Hopkins
- candidates for firefighting positions in New Haven, which was seeking to
promote the hiring of non-white firefighters, were required to complete a
validated qualification test. When the test revealed that non-white applicants did
not perform as well as white candidates, the city threw out the test as a qualifying
mechanism and started the hiring process anew.
- The Supreme Court held that New Haven had violated Title VII because the test
was valid and the decision not to use it was "race-conscious." Ans✓✓✓ Ricci v.
DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557 (2009)
- case involving disparate treatment discrimination arising out of performance
appraisals actually involving a lack of appraisals.
- a woman lawyer in a prestigious New York City law firm was able to show that
over a twelve-year period she received, after repeated requests, only one
performance appraisal before she was terminated, while during the same time
period two younger male counterparts each received nine appraisals. Moreover,
the sole appraisal Esterquest received did not include a plan for remediation of
her performance deficiencies or a path to promotion, which was included in other
employee's evaluations. Under these circumstances she was able to show age and
gender discrimination. Ans✓✓✓ Esterquest v. Booz, Allen & Hamilton
- Defined the scope of "record of impairment" and "regarded as disabled" criteria
of the Rehabilitation Act
- The Nassau school board fired a teacher who had recently recovered from a
documented third bout of tuberculosis, for fear that the disease would return and
pose a risk to school children.
- The Supreme Court held that the teacher was protected under the Act because
"[a]llowing discrimination based on the contagious effects of a physical
,impairment would be inconsistent with the basic purpose of § 504, which is to
ensure that handicapped individuals are not denied jobs or other benefits
because of the prejudiced attitudes or the ignorance of others." Ans✓✓✓ School
Board of Nassau v. Arline 1987
- Dr. Ortega was a physician and director of training at a federal government
medical facility. Officials became concerned with the integrity of Dr. Ortega's
administration of the program and allegations of sexual harassment and, while he
was on leave, searched Ortega's office and desk to inventory state property. That
search produced several incriminating personal items that were used in the
dismissal case against Ortega. Ortega complained he had a reasonable
expectation of privacy to personal items in his office and the employer search was
unlawful.
- The Supreme Court, without actually deciding the merits of the matter, found
that such a search may be reasonable if it is:
Justified at the start
Limited in scope in its execution
The high court eventually sent the case back to the trial court for that
determination. Ans✓✓✓ O'Connor v. Ortega
- in 1964 the New York State Commission for Human Rights had determined the
sheet metal workers' union had systematically excluded African-Americans from
the union and from obtaining apprenticeships.
- After 18 years of not complying with court orders to stop discrimination, the
Supreme Court affirmed a lower court order, entered in 1975, imposing an AA
plan remedy upon the union which required a fund be set up, and other action
taken, to assist in reaching the goal of 29 percent non-white membership in the
union. The duty to comply with imposed AA plans evaporates once the problem
has been addressed. Ans✓✓✓ Local 28, Sheet Metal Workers v. EEOC
, - In assessing both cases, the NLRB found Butler's policy restricting social
networking by employees unlawful because it could be construed to prohibit
"concerted activity." The lesson for the human resource professional is to craft
social media policies so they may not discourage social media posts about the
conditions of employment Ans✓✓✓ Butler Medical Transport LLC and Michael
Rice and William Lewis Norvell, Case Nos. 5-CA-97810, 5-CA-94981 and 5-CA-
97854 (Sept. 4, 2013)
- It represents the employees of an employer.
- Its membership exceeds a certain level.
- It maintains a hiring hall which procures employees for at least one covered
employer.
- It is engaged in an industry-affecting commerce.
This broad definition brings virtually all unions under federal and state
employment law rules. Ans✓✓✓ A labor organization is subject to federal
employment law statutes as if it were an employer if any of the following are true
of it:
- reverse discrimination suit
- the Supreme Court upheld Michigan's voter-approved Proposal 2, which made
unlawful any discrimination or preferential treatment based upon a class
characteristic in public education, government contracting, and public
employment. This had the specific effect of undoing Michigan's university
admissions rubrics, which allowed for consideration of race and gender in
evaluating college applications. The general effect of this was to put into question
whether other university applications systems nationwide, which allow for
preferences, are valid Ans✓✓✓ Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative
Action, __ U.S. __(2014)
verified answers
- a white medical school applicant challenged the University of California at Davis'
policy of setting aside 16% of admission spots for "disadvantaged" minority
applicants who could also compete in the standard applicant pool. Mr. Bakke was
qualified to be admitted, and he argued that the strict 16% standard was an
impermissible quota and unfair.
- While not dismissing the principles of AA, the Supreme Court agreed that the AA
method used by the university was unlawful, as it gave an unwarranted
advantage to minority applicants. Ans✓✓✓ Regents of the University of
California v. Bakke (Bakke)
- age and seniority are "analytically distinct" from each other in the ADEA context.
- a paper company's decision to terminate an employee because his pension was
about to "vest" did not violate the ADEA. That is, the decision was made due to
years of service and "vesting," not due to the employee's age.
- the Supreme Court noted that the ADEA was designed to eliminate practices
based upon the negative and unsupported age stereotypes of reduced
performance and competence and that the paper company's decision was not
motivated by these considerations.
* Notwithstanding the Hazen case, and because of the high correlation between
salary and age, federal courts are not unified regarding the issue of whether RIF
plans based solely on salary constitutes disparate impact under the ADEA.
Ans✓✓✓ Supreme Court in Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, 507 U.S. 604
- An important area of gender discrimination is the stereotyping of how a male or
how a female should act.
- a highly qualified female employee, Hopkins, was entitled to relief under Title VII
for being denied promotion at a prestigious accountancy firm because she did not
,conform to traditional views of how a woman should act at work. Ans✓✓✓ Price
Waterhouse v. Hopkins
- candidates for firefighting positions in New Haven, which was seeking to
promote the hiring of non-white firefighters, were required to complete a
validated qualification test. When the test revealed that non-white applicants did
not perform as well as white candidates, the city threw out the test as a qualifying
mechanism and started the hiring process anew.
- The Supreme Court held that New Haven had violated Title VII because the test
was valid and the decision not to use it was "race-conscious." Ans✓✓✓ Ricci v.
DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557 (2009)
- case involving disparate treatment discrimination arising out of performance
appraisals actually involving a lack of appraisals.
- a woman lawyer in a prestigious New York City law firm was able to show that
over a twelve-year period she received, after repeated requests, only one
performance appraisal before she was terminated, while during the same time
period two younger male counterparts each received nine appraisals. Moreover,
the sole appraisal Esterquest received did not include a plan for remediation of
her performance deficiencies or a path to promotion, which was included in other
employee's evaluations. Under these circumstances she was able to show age and
gender discrimination. Ans✓✓✓ Esterquest v. Booz, Allen & Hamilton
- Defined the scope of "record of impairment" and "regarded as disabled" criteria
of the Rehabilitation Act
- The Nassau school board fired a teacher who had recently recovered from a
documented third bout of tuberculosis, for fear that the disease would return and
pose a risk to school children.
- The Supreme Court held that the teacher was protected under the Act because
"[a]llowing discrimination based on the contagious effects of a physical
,impairment would be inconsistent with the basic purpose of § 504, which is to
ensure that handicapped individuals are not denied jobs or other benefits
because of the prejudiced attitudes or the ignorance of others." Ans✓✓✓ School
Board of Nassau v. Arline 1987
- Dr. Ortega was a physician and director of training at a federal government
medical facility. Officials became concerned with the integrity of Dr. Ortega's
administration of the program and allegations of sexual harassment and, while he
was on leave, searched Ortega's office and desk to inventory state property. That
search produced several incriminating personal items that were used in the
dismissal case against Ortega. Ortega complained he had a reasonable
expectation of privacy to personal items in his office and the employer search was
unlawful.
- The Supreme Court, without actually deciding the merits of the matter, found
that such a search may be reasonable if it is:
Justified at the start
Limited in scope in its execution
The high court eventually sent the case back to the trial court for that
determination. Ans✓✓✓ O'Connor v. Ortega
- in 1964 the New York State Commission for Human Rights had determined the
sheet metal workers' union had systematically excluded African-Americans from
the union and from obtaining apprenticeships.
- After 18 years of not complying with court orders to stop discrimination, the
Supreme Court affirmed a lower court order, entered in 1975, imposing an AA
plan remedy upon the union which required a fund be set up, and other action
taken, to assist in reaching the goal of 29 percent non-white membership in the
union. The duty to comply with imposed AA plans evaporates once the problem
has been addressed. Ans✓✓✓ Local 28, Sheet Metal Workers v. EEOC
, - In assessing both cases, the NLRB found Butler's policy restricting social
networking by employees unlawful because it could be construed to prohibit
"concerted activity." The lesson for the human resource professional is to craft
social media policies so they may not discourage social media posts about the
conditions of employment Ans✓✓✓ Butler Medical Transport LLC and Michael
Rice and William Lewis Norvell, Case Nos. 5-CA-97810, 5-CA-94981 and 5-CA-
97854 (Sept. 4, 2013)
- It represents the employees of an employer.
- Its membership exceeds a certain level.
- It maintains a hiring hall which procures employees for at least one covered
employer.
- It is engaged in an industry-affecting commerce.
This broad definition brings virtually all unions under federal and state
employment law rules. Ans✓✓✓ A labor organization is subject to federal
employment law statutes as if it were an employer if any of the following are true
of it:
- reverse discrimination suit
- the Supreme Court upheld Michigan's voter-approved Proposal 2, which made
unlawful any discrimination or preferential treatment based upon a class
characteristic in public education, government contracting, and public
employment. This had the specific effect of undoing Michigan's university
admissions rubrics, which allowed for consideration of race and gender in
evaluating college applications. The general effect of this was to put into question
whether other university applications systems nationwide, which allow for
preferences, are valid Ans✓✓✓ Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative
Action, __ U.S. __(2014)
