Section I: Please indicate whether the statement is true or false
Problem 1: A 39-year-old woman is terminated and replaced by a 45 year-old-woman. Her employer tells her that the changes in the customer base and selling environment requires older, more mature employees for her position. She has a valid claim for violation of the ADEA.
Problem 2. An employer fires an employee for stealing from the company. The employee is convicted of theft and is sentenced to probation for same. Some time later, the employer is contacted by a prospective employer for a reference and is told that the termination was for theft of the employer’s property. The ex-employee does not get the new job. However, she has a valid claim for defamation against her former employer.
Problem 3. Work-related injuries need not be reported to OSHA unless they involve loss of life or limb.
Problem 4. A worker is an employee if she has the right to terminate employment at anytime, for any reason, without liability for same.
Problem 5. U.S. citizens employed outside of the U.S., by foreign companies, are protected under Title VII.
Problem 6. Constructive discharge occurs when an employee is given no reasonable alternative but to involuntarily terminate employment.
Problem 7. Employees have no legitimate expectation of a privacy right in the workplace.
Problem 8. The Bakke case was the first significant case of discrimination decided under Title VII.
Problem 9. The BFOQ defense is unavailable in cases of national origin discrimination.
Problem 10. Joe’s employer tells his co-workers that he is HIV-positive. Joe tested positive 6 months ago. Co-workers ostracize Joe, making it hard for him to do his job and Joe is fired. Joe’s has a valid claim for defamation.
Section II: Please indicate the correct answer.
Problem 1. In Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court
a. allowed jury trials in Title VII case for the first time.
b. required affirmative action plans to obtain government contracts.
c. struck down the separate but equal doctrine.
d. recognized the business necessity defense.
Problem 2. Company X refused to hire Mr. Brown because e failed to pass a reliable skills test. Mr. Brown sues because no person of the same national origin has passed the test. Mr. Brown asks the court to require Company X to adjust scores of people of the same national origin by 10 points. Can the Court grant this relief?
a. No, because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes this an unfair employment practice for an employer to adjust scores on an employment-related test based on a protected trait.
b. Yes, because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires an employer to adjust scores on an employment-related test if the test is designed to exclude people based on a protected trait.
c. No, because the Civil Rights Act of 1991 makes this an unfair employment practice for an employer to adjust scores on an employment-related test based on a protected trait.
d. Yes, because the Civil Rights Act of 1991 requires an employer to adjust scores on an employment-related test if the test is designed to exclude people based on a protected trait.
Problem 3. The practice of hiring only your family members or the family members of current employees is
a. nepotism, and is per se illegal.
b. venue recruiting.
c. promoting from within.
d. nepotism.
Problem 4. An employee is constructively discharged if she
a. is fired after failing to correct constructive criticism received during her performance review.
b. resigns because the work conditions are intolerable to the reasonable person.
c. resigns to avoid being fired for insubordination.
d. is laid off during a reduction in force.
Problem 5. Implementation of a facially neutral policy that results in a legally impermissible negative effect on a particular protected class is:
a. disparate treatment discrimination.
b. disparate impact discrimination.
c. differential impact discrimination.
d. unintended discrimination.
Problem 6. A religious organization will generally be exempt from the prohibition in Title VII
a. unless it is a religious based organization.
b. Unless it is a purely secular organization.
c. Except in instances where the employment is in an area of purely non-sectarian activities.
d. If it is relieved of such obligations by the EEOC.
Problem 7. If Ford Motor Company employs female U.S. citizens abroad it must comply with Title VII with respect to those females
a. unless the culture of the foreign country does not permit women to work with men.
b. unless it is culturally taboo to allow women to work professionally with men in the country in question.
c. Even if the culture of the foreign country does not permit women to work with men, unless doing so would constitute a violation of the foreign country’s law.
d. regardless of the law or custom of the foreign county in question.
Problem 8. The requirement that complained of behavior be severe and pervasive in order for it to amount to actionable sexual harassment, means
a. it must be more than occasional or it must be very serious in degree.
b. it must cause severe psychological harm to the victim.
c. that it be part of a protracted and determined campaign of harassment.
d. that it involve physical, as well as emotional, abuse.
Problem 9. Title VII allows an employer to develop a voluntary affirmative action program
a. to redress chronic underrepresentation of a group in an industry.
b. to redress chronic underrepresentation of a group in society.
c. to redress chronic underrepresentation of a group in that employer’s workplace.
d. only if ordered by a federal judge.
Problem 10. The federal statute regulating minimum wages, overtime pay, and minimum worker ages is the
a. Federal Wage and Hour Act.
b. Federal Labor Relations Act.
c. Fair Labor Standards Act.
d. Title VII.