Questions and Answers of Labor and Employment Law

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination by recipients of federal education funding, and the Supreme Court held in Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, 544 U.S. 167 (2005), that the statute
1. Explain the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling. Does it ensure the plaintiff’s continued employment with the school district?
2. If your answer for question 1 above, was “no,” what must the plaintiff still prove, when his case is reconsidered by the trial judge?
3. What is meant by teacher tenure? Is the plaintiff claiming that he holds the equivalent of tenure in the school district?What does the Supreme Court say on this issue?
4. How are “continued employment” and “removal” from employment different legal issues in the high court’s view?
5. Does the court’s decision in this case suggest a liberalization of historic position on employment-at-will, or is the decision essentially limited to its particular facts?
1. What were some of the socioeconomic conditions in nineteenth-century America that led the majority of state courts to adopt the legal principle of employment-at-will?
2. What changes occurred in American society during the twentieth century that may have encouraged the majority of state courts to carve out exceptions to the pristine employment-at-will doctrine?
1. The company’s employee handbook stated clearly that employment at the firm was strictly on an at-will basis. However, at other spots, the same handbook laid out policies for progressive
10. Assume that the defendant in the foregoing case is a law firm and the alleged harasser is an attorney practicing before the Utah bar. Assume further that the state Supreme Court has enacted a
1. In this case, the defendant-employer, defending against the former employee’s wrongful discharge action, sought to discover what the plaintiff’s home computer contained. The appeals court
2. Suppose, as suggested in question 1, that the defendant’s agents, when examining the plaintiff’s home computer in accordance with the appellate court’s order, discovered evidence of
3. Concerning the plaintiff’s “reasonable expectation of privacy” regarding the home PC, which do you feel should be given the most weight by the courts, the company policy read and signed by
4. Given the issues raised by this appellate opinion, what policies on employee access and use of computers, e-mail, instant messaging, and the like would you recommend that a company institute and
5. Do you think it is sound company policy, whenever an employee is being terminated or the company is defending against a wrongful discharge action, for the company to examine the contents of the
1. What are some modern technological developments that make an increase in invasion of privacy actions likely?
2. If you were a state supreme court judge, would you be willing to make it easier for employees to bring, and prevail in, invasion of privacy actions?
3. Are employers also more likely to fall prey to invasions of privacy perpetrated by their employees?
3. Assume that in problem 2, the disc jockey’s contract with her former employer contained a provision that all disputes will be subject to arbitration. Should this provision prevent the radio
4. A firefighter was accused of fraudulently claiming an injury while fighting a fire, the alleged motive being to enhance his retirement benefits. He was suspended without pay pending the outcome of
5. Two former employees filed a lawsuit, alleging wrongful discharge and other workplace tort claims, against their former supervisor and the company that had employed them. The defendants sought
6. The Municipality of Anchorage adopted a policy that subjects police and firefighters in safetysensitive positions to suspicionless drug testing.The police and firefighter unions challenged the
1. What is the significance of the fact that Duke Power had intentionally discriminated against African Americans in hiring prior to the passage of Title VII?
2. Why did the high school diploma requirement and the aptitude tests requirement operate to disqualify African Americans from eligibility for transfer at a greater rate than whites? Explain your
3. Why does the court say that the high school diploma requirement and the aptitude test requirements were “unrelated to measuring job capability”?
4. Does Title VII allow an employer to use applicants’ scores on professionally developed aptitude tests as criteria for hiring?Explain your answer.
5. What is the fable of the stork and the fox that Chief Justice Burger refers to? How does it relate to this case?
1. What are the main provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act? Which employers are subject to Title VII?
3. What is meant by disparate treatment? What is meant by disparate impact? How can a claim of disparate impact be demonstrated?
4. Can an employer use employment testing to select employees? Explain your answer. What must an employer show to continue to use job requirements held to have a disparate impact on a protected group
5. What is meant by the bottom line defense? Is it a sufficient answer to a claim of employment discrimination? Explain your answer.
7. When are affirmative action programs legal under Title VII? Explain your answer.8. What is the scope of protection against retaliation under §704(a)?
1. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority[SEPTA] is a regional mass transit authority in the Philadelphia area. SEPTA sought to upgrade the fitness level of its transit police by adopting
10. A group of African American steelworkers employed by the Lukens Steel Company alleged that they were victims of racial discrimination in their treatment by the company. At the same time, they
1. Why did Pan Am prefer female flight attendants?According to Pan Am, how were they superior to male flight attendants?
2. What was the essence of the flight attendant’s job? Was being female necessary for the safe and efficient performance of that job?
3. When can an employer refuse to hire male employees for a particular job? What must be shown to support that decision?Explain your answers.
1. Explain what is meant by gender-plus discrimination.
6. Can any employer legally refuse to hire homosexuals?Explain your answer.
8. Under what circumstances, if any, are homosexuals or transsexuals protected under Title VII?
1. Anderson, a female attorney, was hired as an associate in a large law firm in 1978. She had accepted the position based on the firm’s representations that associates would advance to partnership
4. Baker, a female, was employed as a history teacher by More Science High School for three years.Although she received good evaluation reviews for her first two years, her third-year review gave her
6. In October 1981, Rebecca Thomas was hired as a personnel assistant by Cooper Industries, a plant that manufactures hammers and axes. In February 1982, Thomas was promoted to personnel
1. What is the relevance of the three-part test set out in Lemon v. Kurtzman to a claim under Title VII?
2. What, according to the Supreme Court, was the rationale for the enactment of the Section 702(a) exemption for religious organizations? How does that purpose relate to the three-part test from
3. Does the Section 702(a) exemption apply to all activities of religious organizations, even to commercial activities? Does the exemption allow religious organizations to discriminate on the basis
3. Under what circumstances is an employer permitted to discriminate based on citizenship under Title VII? Under the IRCA?
4. What is necessary for an employer to require employees to arbitrate, rather than litigate, employment discrimination claims? Would employers or employees be more likely to favor arbitration over
5. Explain the differences between the exemption for religious organizations under Section 702(a) and the exemption under Section 703(e)(2). Does one exemption supersede the other? Explain. How do
1. How did the city’s pay raise plan affect older police officers? Why did the city adopt such a pay raise plan?
2. According to Justice Stevens, what provisions of the ADEA allow plaintiffs to bring a disparate impact claim of age discrimination?
3. How does a claim of disparate impact age discrimination under the ADEA differ from a claim of disparate impact discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
4. Why did the Supreme Court dismiss the plaintiff’s disparate impact age discrimination claim fail here? Explain.
1. How did Humphrey’s condition affect her ability to perform her job? Was Humphrey “an otherwise qualified individual with a disability” under the ADA? Explain your answers.
2. What accommodation did the employer initially offer to Humphrey? Was the accommodation effective? Explain.
3. What accommodation did Humphrey then request from her employer? How did the employer respond to her request? Why?
4. Was the employer’s decision to terminate Humphrey a violation of the ADA? Explain your answer.
2. What must a plaintiff establish to support a claim of age discrimination under the ADEA? Must the plaintiff demonstrate that he or she was replaced by someone under forty? Explain.
5. What is necessary to establish a BFOQ under the ADEA? What other defenses are available to an employer under the ADEA?
7. How far must an employer go to accommodate an otherwise qualified individual’s disability? What constitutes undue hardship?
10. Must employers hire persons who are HIV positive?Explain.
8. Rotert had been working as a mortgage processing officer when the company told her that her duties were being changed to those of a loan consultant and that she would be transferred to another
1. What is the significance of the timing of Velázquez’s termination by Horizon?
2. What evidence did Velázquez show to support his claim that Horizon fired him because of his reserve service? What reason did Horizon offer for firing him?
3. According to the Court of Appeals, who has the burden of showing that Horizon’s alleged reasons for firing Velázquez are a pretext? What must they show in order to meet that burden?Have they
1. Against which kinds of discrimination can 42 U.S.C. Section 1981 be used? What remedies are available to plaintiffs under 42 U.S.C. Section 1981?
3. Against which kinds of discrimination can 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 be used? What remedies are available under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983?
6. Must employers grant their employees time off to attend meetings with their children’s teachers?Explain.
7. Can federal government employees bring an employment discrimination suit under 42 U.S.C.Section 1981? Under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983?Explain. What other remedies can they pursue?
8. Neves sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alleging employment discrimination in violation of Title VII and also, in the alternative, violation of her rights under the
1. Why should the secretary of labor be required to prove that the employer had knowledge of a non complying condition?Wouldn’t a safer workplace result from holding employers strictly liable for
2. How might the secretary of labor have proven that the employer had knowledge of the noncomplying condition in this case?
3. How did the OSHA investigator’s testing technique differ from that of the employer’s own safety manager? Which technique do you feel was more appropriate?
4. Should courts second-guess the OSHA’s experts when it comes to determining whether unsafe conditions exist in a workplace? Or in determining the appropriate burden of proof to place on the
1. Explain the legal test for whether an employee’s refusal to work is protected activity under the applicable OSHA regulations.
2. Do you think this test is too hard on employees who have to make judgments on the spot and who risk job loss if their judgments are wrong?
3. Why did the court defer to the secretary of labor’s discretion in this case?
4. Is this a case in which the Department of Labor’s expertise deserves greater weight than the court’s own expertise in what is fair treatment and due process of law?
1. What are the goals of the Occupational Safety and Health Act? How does the act attempt to meet those goals?
2. What agencies are created by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and what are the roles of those agencies?
7. What is the effect of state right-to-know laws?
6. Sami Al-Arian was a tenured professor of computer engineering at the University of South Florida.Early in 2002, the university terminated his employment, citing his public statements, reported by
1. What is the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law and why is it relevant to this case?
2. How does Pennsylvania’ HMO Act figure into the court’s decision in this case?
3. If the U.S. district court was correct about total ERISA preemption applying here, why does the federal appeals court care what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said?
4. What does the term “subrogation” mean and why is it relevant in this case?
5. What was the plaintiff’s public policy argument in this case and how did the court of appeals respond to it?
1. Discuss whether HMOs on balance have improved or damaged the delivery of medical services in the United States.
2. What do you think are the policy considerations behind the Supreme Court’s decision in this case?
3. Without benefit of ERISA protection, are future litigants left with sufficient legal remedies against HMOs that make similar mistakes in diagnosis and treatment?
4. Does what happened to the plaintiff in this case suggest that the federal government should nationalize HMOs?
1. What problems led to the passage of ERISA? How does the act attempt to correct those problems?
2. What are the bases of coverage for the dual obligations ERISA places upon pension and benefit plans?
3. What is a fiduciary? What obligations does ERISA impose upon fiduciaries?
4. What is a defined-contribution pension plan? What is a defined-benefit pension plan? Why are definedbenefit plans subject to more requirements and regulations than defined-contribution plans?
5. What is vesting? What alternative minimum requirements for vesting are imposed by ERISA?
6. What are the minimum funding requirements ERISA imposes on qualified pension plans? When may a waiver from such requirements be granted?
7. What is the role of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation under ERISA? What obligations apply in the event of an employer’s withdrawal from a multiemployer defined-benefit pension plan?
8. What are the enforcement procedures for ERISA’s fiduciary obligations? For the minimum standards required of qualified plans under ERISA?
1. The union pension fund sued an employer under ERISA, seeking the right to audit the company’s books and to recover delinquent pension payments.The defendant company filed a motion, asking the

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