2.2 Determining Discrimination

Question 1

What are the types of discrimination?

Answer 1

 Disparate or Adverse Treatment
 Disparate or Adverse Impact

Question 1

Failure to avoid discrimination may result in

Answer 1

 Lawsuits/Settlements
 Limited Talent Pool
 Reductions in Productivity
 Turnover of valued employees
 Negative Customer Reactions
 Restricted Perspectives

Question 2

What is disparate / adverse treatment

Answer 2

intentional discrimination where employer knowingly discriminated based on the individual’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability status.

Question 3

How do you avoid disparate / adverse treatment discrimination?

Answer 3

uniform HR practices

Question 4

What are the defense types for disparate/adverse treatment discrimination

Answer 4

Stray remark or BFOQ (bona fide occupational qualification)

Question 5

What factors should you consider as part of a stray remark defense

Answer 5

o Who made the remark.
o Relatedness of the remark to the decision.
o Context of the remark (Specific/ambiguous).
o Temporally proximate to the decision.

Question 6

What is Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)

Answer 6

Legitimate criteria on which to discriminate on the basis of protected class status.
* Only applies to qualifications that affect employee’s ability to do essential elements of job. Necessary, not merely preferred.
* Race is never BFOQ

Question 7

What situations allow for a BFOQ defense?

Answer 7

o Authenticity – sex, religion, age is absolutely necessary because it is part of core task representing product (Pastor vs. Christian book store worker)
o Customer privacy preference – Sex, religion, age necessary in certain situations (locker room attendant)
o Concern for welfare of employees - protection from dangerous situations

Question 8

What is disparate / adverse impact?

Answer 8

a condition in which employment practices are seemingly neutral yet disproportionately exclude a protected group from employment opportunities. (Focus on practice rather than motive).
o The policy or practice is not actually related to one’s capacity to perform important job functions.
 Demonstrated through results of a job analysis.
 Demonstrated through reference to criterion validation studies.

Question 9

Many common selection predictors can result in disparate impact including:

Answer 9

 Different education based on demography.
 Different experience based on sex.
 Different exposure to technology based on age
 Different levels of physical strength based on sex, age, disability status.

Question 10

What is the 4/5 rule?

Answer 10

evidence suggesting discrimination if an org’s hiring rate for a minority group is less than four-fifths of the hiring rate of the majority group.

Question 11

Uniform Guidelines in Employee Selection Procedures suggests that selection procedures that result in disparate impact can be used if:

Answer 11

• Measure is clearly linked to specific job skill that has been identified through process of job analysis (theoretically justifiable)
• Substantial correlation b/t measure and job-relevant criteria (empirically justifiable)
• No other, more- or equally valid and less discriminatory measure exists.