1
What must a person who is claiming they were
harassed in the workplace allege in order to first state a case with the EEOC
for each of the following types of harassment:
I
Sexual harassment – quid pro quo
II
Sexual harassment – hostile environment
III
Religious harassment
IV
Racial harassment
2
Explain the difference between sexual
harassment, gender discrimination, and sexual orientation discrimination, as
those terms are used legally.
3
How does GINA protect a person whose mother
died of breast cancer from employment discrimination?
4
Provide one example of a behavior that could
be found to be both a hostile environment and quid pro quo forms of sexual
harassment at the same time. Explain how a person could argue that this
behavior at work was illegal.
5
Give the main legal reason why every company
should have a valid written policy against all forms of harassment (besides the
fact it is the “right” thing to do.)
6
Can an employer require that only females
serve female customers and only males serve male customers? Explain your
answer using legal terms.
7
How many employees must an employer or
company have working for it to be subject to:
I
the ADA
II
Pregnancy Discrimination Act
III
Title VII
IV
IRCA
V
GINA
8
Assume you work for a company that has a
sexual anti-harassment policy, but not a religious, sexual orientation, or
racial anti-harassment policy. Write a one-two paragraph statement to your boss
(the HR Director), as to why you believe it would make sense to revamp the
policy to include other forms of harassment. Include one example of a real
situation where a policy may have protected a company from liability or stopped
harassment from happening. (You will find case examples on the EEOC website).
Cite that case/situation in your memo to your boss. Provide the amount of
damages/fines the company in your example case had to pay as a result of
failing to protect an employee from discrimination.
Project Part II. Employment
Discrimination Cases.
Many
court cases on employment discrimination have shaped, created, and changed the
employment landscape. Some protect employees from discrimination, and many
protect employers from liability. Settlements and trial court cases do not
create legal precedent or changes in the law. However, appeals court cases, and
especially the U.S. Supreme Court Cases, do change, shape, and create new law,
when statutes are interpreted in binding ways. Pick ONE case from the following
list. Read the case. Answer each of the FOUR questions following the list
of cases and place them in your Project Part II. Be sure to identify WHICH of
the cases you selected.
List of U.S. Supreme Court Cases:
Vance
v. Ball State University.http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-556_11o2.pdf
University
of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar.http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-484_o759.pdf
Phillips
v. Martin Marietta Corp. 400 U.S. 542 (1971).http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=400&invol=542
Espinoza
v Farah Mfg. Co, 414 U.S. 86 (1973)http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=414&invol=86
Oncale
v. Sundowner Offshore Services, 83 F. 3d 118http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/96-568.ZO.html
Questions for answering.
1
Explain briefly, the statute(s) (law or act)
which was in question in your case, the facts of the case, and why the parties
were in court. What was each party asking the court to do?
2
What did the court decide in your case and
what will be the results of that decision? (i.e. who won, and was the win final
or did the court send the case back to the lower court system to re-decide an
issue?)
3
In what way did this case create, change, or
shape the employment landscape for employers as a result of the decision made?
Did this change help employers or employees the most? Explain.
4
Do you agree with the decision in the case
you referenced? In other words, do you think that employment law was made
better and stronger, or weaker and less effective as a result of this case?
Write at least one full paragraph that supports your opinion.
Part 3. Legal Research into an Employment
Law Pending Before Congress
Organizations
such as the Society for Human Resource Management (http://www.shrm.org) work hard to
support, lobby against, or provide education to the public about laws that will
affect workers and employers. These organizations significantly influence what
laws pass. Savvy HR managers have SHRM on their desktops so they are familiar
with the many changes being suggested at any time, as they could cost companies
significant amounts of money if they are passed.
Each
year, thousands of proposed laws are being discussed, debated, and either
passed, ignored, or rejected in state legislators around the country, or in
Congress.
Find
a proposed piece of legislation in the U.S. (or your state legislature) which
interests you. This piece of legislation needs to regard employment law in some
way (labor law, employment discrimination, ADA, PPACA, Title VII, GINA, etc.)
Note that any bill that suggests changes to any current law will suffice, as
well as a new law. Some examples you can use if you are interested are: the Fair
Playing Field Act of 2012, the Religious Freedom Act of 2012,or a
new bill regarding whether full-time employment under PPACA is 40 hours/week
instead of 30 hours. (Since the time of writing this project, it is possible
these examples of passed – be sure to check if you use any of them).
Places
to look for legislation like this include:
Congress.gov.http://www.congress.gov
(Note
that the Active Legislation link (right side) and Most Viewed Bills
side include unpassed, pending legislation. the Public Lawslink are passed
laws – so do not use those.)
Govtrack.UShttps://www.govtrack.us/
Note:
you can type in your state, and get updates your state’s representatives to
Congress.
SHRM’s legislative pages:http://www.shrm.org/legalissues/federalresources/federallegislation/pages/default.aspx#
(Note
that link takes you to the top level – and you can dig around on their links to
find more information. Some of the internal pages may require a subscription to
SHRM, however.)
Once
you find a law pending before Congress that interests you, read the bill and
answer these questions.
1
What is the name of the bill? What is
the resolution number of the bill (e.g., HR 212)?
2
Does the bill you selected create a new law
or amend an existing law?
3
If this bill is passed, how will it change
current employment law? Be specific here and include enough detail so that
someone reading your answer really understanding the bill under consideration.
4
State whether you agree or disagree with the
bill. If you were a member of Congress would you vote for it?
Explain why.
