Topic 2: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Question 1

Adverse Job Action

Answer 1

A negative job action that results from an employee’s lawful actions.

Question 2

BFOQ

Answer 2

(Bona Fide Occupational Qualification) Job requirement that an employee be a particular religion, sex, or national origin that is reasonably necessary to business operations. For instance, it is assumed that an opening for a Baptist minister at a local Baptist church would be filled by a minister who is actually a person who celebrates the Baptist religion and not, say, the Episcopal religion.

Question 3

Back Pay

Answer 3

Monetary compensation for a plaintiff’s lost earnings.

Question 4

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)

Answer 4

A reasonable employment qualification that an employer is allowed to consider when making decisions about hiring and retaining employees.

Question 5

Business Necessity

Answer 5

A legitimate business purpose that justifies an employment decision as effective and necessary.

Question 6

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 6

Enacted in 1964, it prohibits race discrimination in employment.

Question 7

Comparative Evidence

Answer 7

Evidence of discrimination that is found by comparing two similarly situated employees who were treated differently because of a class characteristic.

Question 8

Compensatory Damages

Answer 8

Monetary compensation necessary to replace a plaintiff’s losses.

Question 9

Complaint

Answer 9

A formal allegation against a party

Question 10

Direct Evidence

Answer 10

Real, clear evidence of discrimination that requires no inference or consideration to prove its existence.

Question 11

Disparate Impact Discrimination

Answer 11

Discrimination in which a plaintiff claims not that the employer intentionally discriminated, but rather the employer’s procedures, policies, or practices have the effect of creating an unnecessary obstacle to employment opportunity for a protected class.

Question 12

Disparate Treatment

Answer 12

Theory of discrimination based on different treatment given to individuals because of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability status.

Question 13

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Answer 13

The federal agency that enforces federal anti-discrimination laws and oversees all federal equal opportunity in employment regulations.

Question 14

Four-fifths Rule

Answer 14

The simplest and most common way of estimating adverse impact by ruling a screening device as discriminatory if its selection rates of a protected class are less than 80% of the majority.

Question 15

Front Pay

Answer 15

Monetary compensation in lieu of reinstatement.

Question 16

Hostile Work Environment

Answer 16

As defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a work environment in which an individual or individuals are subjected to a pattern of harassment “when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.”

Question 17

Injunctive Relief

Answer 17

A court order that prohibits a defendant from certain actions.

Question 18

Intelligence Tests

Answer 18

Standardized assessments designed to assess human ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations.

Question 19

Pattern and Practice

Answer 19

When an employer’s policies have the effect of discrimination for no legitimate business necessity.

Question 20

Pretext

Answer 20

A false excuse used by an employer to cover up for discrimination.

Question 21

Prima Facie

Answer 21

(Latin for “at first sight”) Evidence based on the first impression.

Question 22

Punitive Damages

Answer 22

Monetary damages designed to punish an employer who acted maliciously or recklessly.

Question 23

Rebuttal

Answer 23

The action of contradicting or opposing by formal legal argument, plea, or countervailing proof. In this step the plaintiff responds to the employer during an EEOC discrimination claim hearing.

Question 24

Reinstatement

Answer 24

A remedy in which a former employee returns to his or her job.

Question 25

Remedies

Answer 25

A desired action resulting from a successful lawsuit.

Question 26

Retaliation Claim

Answer 26

A complaint filed by an employee who feels he or she was discriminated against in violation of the law.