Exam 4 - Chapter 14 (Employment Discrimination)

Question 1

What is Equal Opportunity in Employment?

Answer 1

The right of all employees and job applicants:

1) To be treated without discrimination, and
2) To be able to sue employers if they are discriminated against

Question 2

What is the Equal Employment Opportunity Agency Commission (EEOC)?

Answer 2

The federal administrative agency responsible for enforcing most federal anti-discrimination laws

Question 3

What is the Equal Employment Opportunity Agency Commission (EEOC) empowered to do?

Answer 3

• Conduct investigations
• Interpret statutes
• Encourage conciliation between employees and employers
• Bring suit to enforce the law

Question 4

What is the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and what does it protect?

Answer 4

Intended to eliminate job discrimination based on five protected classes:

1) Race
2) Color
3) Religion
4) Sex
5) national origin

Question 5

Who does the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act apply to?

Answer 5

• Employers with 15 or more employees, that year or last, for 20 consecutive weeks
• All employment agencies
• Labor unions with 15 or more members
• State and local governments and their agencies
• Most federal government employment

Question 6

What does the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act apply to in terms of employment?

Answer 6

applies to any term, condition, or privilege of employment including, but not limited to:

• Hiring and firing
• Work rules
• Promotion and demotion
• Payment of compensation and benefits
• Availability of job training opportunities

Question 7

What is the Disparate Treatment Discrimination Form of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 7

Occurs when an employer discriminates against a specific individual because of his or her race, color, national origin, sex, or religion

Question 8

What is the Disparate Impact Discrimination Form of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 8

• Occurs when an employer discriminates against an entire protected class
• Often, this is proven through statistical data about the employer’s employment practices

Question 9

What is the procedure for bringing a Title VII action?

Answer 9

• private complainant must file a complaint with the EEOC
• EEOC can choose to sue, if not will issue a right sue letter to the complainant
• Complainant can then sue the employer

Question 10

What can a complainant recover for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 10

• back pay and reasonable attorneys’ fees

Question 11

What are the circumstances that can create a hostile work environment clause of sexual harassment in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 11

• Frequency of the discriminatory conduct
• Its severity
• Whether it was physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance
• Whether it unreasonable interferes with an employee’s work performance

Question 12

What is the hostile work environment clause of sexual harassment in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 12

• Occurs when workplace is “permeated” with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, insult so severe to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment
• The conduct in the workplace must be offensive to a reasonable person as well as to the victim, and it must be severe and pervasive
• Online harassment (chats, emails to spread racial and sexual slurs)

Question 13

What are defenses to employers in sexual harassment cases?

Answer 13

1) If they took “reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior” by establishing and distributing effective harassment policies and procedures
2) That the employee suing for harassment failed to follow these policies and procedures

Question 14

What is an employer’s duty for Religious Discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 14

an employer is under a duty to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious practices, observances, or beliefs if it does not cause an undue hardship on the employer

Question 15

What are defenses to a Title VII Action of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 15

1) Merit
2) Seniority
3) Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)

Question 16

What is the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification defense to a Title VII Action of the Civil Rights Act?

Answer 16

Employment discrimination based on a protected class (other than race or color) is lawful if it is:

• Job related, and a
• Business necessity, i.e. discrimination in hiring when a certain characteristic is necessary to perform the job

Question 17

What is the merit defense to a Title VII Action of the Civil Rights Act

Answer 17

Showing better performance on a professional developed ability test

Question 18

What is the seniority defense to a Title VII Action of the Civil Rights Act

Answer 18

Preferential treatment based on their length of service and are not unlawful if it:

• Applies equally to all
• Follows industry practices
• Did not begin with discrimination
• Is free of any illegal discriminatory purpose

Question 19

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1886 do?

Answer 19

prohibited racial and national origin employment discrimination

Question 20

Who does the Age Discrimination in Employment Act apply to in terms of employers?

Answer 20

Applies to:

• Employers having 20 or more employees in an industry that affects interstate commerce
• Employment agencies and to unions that have at least 25 members or operate a hiring hall

Question 21

Are covered employers under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act able to establish mandatory retirement ages for its employees? T/F

Answer 21

False

Question 22

How must one prove Age Discrimination?

Answer 22

Plaintiff must establish facts to create a reasonable inference that age was a determining factor in termination by showing that he or she

• Belongs to the statutorily protected age group of 40 or older
• Was qualified for the position held
• Was terminated under circumstances giving rise to an inference of discrimination

Question 23

What is the Executive Exception under the ADEA?

Answer 23

allows mandatory retirement of executives at age 65

Question 24

Who is the Americans with Disabilities Act imposed on?

Answer 24

• employers of public transportation, telecommunications, and public accommodations to accommodate individuals with disabilities

Question 25

What is considered a disabled person?

Answer 25

someone who:

1) Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his or her major life activities
2) Has a record of such impairment, or
3) Is regarded as having such impairment

Question 26

What are specific individuals covered under the ADA?

Answer 26

Individuals with diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, blind or deaf people, and infected by HIV but not yet symptomatic or an intellectual disability

Question 27

What is forbidden conduct under the ADA?

Answer 27

• Employers are forbidden from asking a job applicant about the existence, nature, and severity of a disability
• Pre-employment medical examinations are forbidden before a job offer