Jane Jones is the only female mechanic in a garage owned by Central Transport Company. Jane and her fellow co-workers are routinely and systematically subject to a rude, obnoxious and downright mean supervisor. This supervisor demeans men and women alike on the basis of sexuality, intelligence and appearance. This rude and obnoxious supervisor is a female. While none of the terms of Jane's employment have changed, the work environment has become intolerable. As a result she quits.

Does Jane have a lawsuit against Central Transport? Be thorough, discuss and decide.

Steve is an employee of Delphi Corporation. He hurt his ankle playing basketball on Sunday before his work shift began at midnight on Monday morning. He reported to work but shortly into his shift told his supervisor that his ankle made work impossible. The supervisor referred Steve to the plant nurse. The plant nurse referred Steve to an orthopedic surgeon.Steve finished his shift and then was examined by the orthopedic surgeon later on during the day. Steve was diagnosed with a torn tendon. He did not report to work the following day and called plant security (an independent contractor) indicating that he would not be able to work for the remainder of the week. Plant security logged his call in as a "sick day". The next week Steve called in again to plant security indicating that he would be off for at least 60 days related to his ankle. Three days later Steve receives a certified letter from Delphi. Steve does not bother to pick up the certified letter even though he signed for it.Had he picked up the letter he would have discovered that Delphi required Steve to report to work or to explain his absence with the labor relations department and that failure to do so would result in termination. Subsequently Steve is terminated. Steve wants to sue Delphi.

Does he have a basis? Discuss and decide.

The City of Detroit police department is 70% Caucasian and 30% minority. The City of Detroit itself is approximately 87.5% African-American. As such the City develops an affirmative action plan to have the police force resemble the community (i.e., approximately 80% minority).One criteria to be hired as a police officer is a successful score on a standardized exam. Statistics show that African-Americans and Hispanics applicants score approximately 20 points below their Caucasian counter-parts. The City, believing that the only possible explanation could be cultural and educational differences between minorities and Caucasians, gives each minority applicant 20 points to standardize the score between minorities and Caucasians. The effect of the standardization have been that out of the most recent 100 applicants, 99 of those hired have been African-American. Ed Jones is a Caucasian who scores higher than any of the African-American candidates hired (before the 20 point consideration is given).Ed sues claiming the affirmative action plan is illegal.

Who will win and why? Be thorough, discuss and decide.

Steve is an employee of ABC Manufacturing who has high blood pressure and heart problems. His doctor told Steve that he cannot endure a lot of stress or become overly tired and, therefore, restricted him to work no more than 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. Steve's job involves the supervision of production employees engaged in the making of automobile component parts. If customer demand increases unexpectedly Steve is required to work as long as it takes to meet production quotas. In this regard, Steve sometimes works 12-14 hours per day, 7 days a week. As such, his employer balks at the medical restriction and orders Steve to continue working according to his usual schedule.During a recent upturn in customer demand, Steve refuses to work beyond 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.Steve is promptly fired by his employer. Steve believes that he has a viable lawsuit against his employer especially in view of the fact that his employer allowed another supervisor, a pregnant woman, to operate under a reduced work schedule as a result of a difficult pregnancy.

Does Steve have a claim? If so, under what law and will he prevail?

Be thorough, discuss and decide.

Adam is a Hispanic male who has received very good evaluations from a former supervisor. The evaluations concern both objective and subjective factors.The objective factors included the number of machines Adam can monitor as a customer service representative during the day. Specifically, as set forth in an employee handbook the monitoring of over 500 machines falls within the "excellent" category. 400-500 machines is "very good" and 200-400 is "average" with less than 200 being rated as "poor and needs improvement". The subjective criteria concerned attitude, politeness and helpfulness.When Adam's former supervisor was transferred to another department his current supervisor, Jill, gave him very poor marks. In this regard, Adam received 1's and 2's for subjective criteria and the same for the objective criteria. Adam continued to monitor over 700 machines. In comparison, Susan (who is not Hispanic) received a score of "5" from Jill, the new supervisor, even though she monitored only 400 machines.Adam decides that the appraisals he received were based on something other than performance. He decides to sue.

What will be the basis of the lawsuit and will he win and why?

Be thorough, discuss and decide.

Mary is an account representative with XYZ Data Processing. In this regard, she develops new customers and calls upon existing customers for her employer's computer software business. She does not have an office and spends the majority of her time in her car or at customer facilities. Being a new employee she has worked many hours to develop new customers, as her pay is almost entirely based on commission. Over the past year she has determined that she has worked nearly 70 hours per week. Sick of working so much for little pay she demands to be paid overtime from XYZ.XYZ denies the overtime request and Mary sues.

Who will win and why? Be thorough, discuss and decide.

John is a retired, former hourly employee of Ford Motor Company. When John retired in 1990 Ford promised him lifetime health benefits. However, due to a general downturn in the automobile industry, Ford has decided to rescind its health insurance benefits for retired employees. It sends John a notice indicting that his health insurance will be eliminated effective January 1, 2017. Furious, John searches through his file cabinet and discovers his retirement benefits summary package. In reviewing the package, he notices an asterisk on page 157 of the summary which indicates that Ford Motor Company reserves the right to amend, alter, terminate or change any condition of benefits at any time. John is still mad and decides to sue Ford Motor Company.

Who will win and why? Be thorough, discuss and decide.

While at work, Peter has been sending sexually explicit e-mails to his girlfriend. After these messages Peter hits the "delete" button thinking that they will never be seen again. Unfortunately for Peter previously sent e-mails are stored by a remote computing service hired by the employer, who conducts routine searches of previously sent e-mails looking for obscenities, profanity or other inappropriate content.Peter's employer finds the previously sent e-mails with the help of the remote computing service. Peter is promptly fired. Peter sues his employer claiming that his privacy has been violated.

Is Peter correct?

Who will win and why? Be thorough, discuss and decide.

Mary suspects that her administrative assistant, Nancy, has been embezzling company funds by writing company checks to a friend supposedly for office supplies only to have the friend kick the money back to Nancy. Mary's sole reason for suspicion is based on an e-mail from Nancy's ex-husband whom Nancy divorced last year after catching him in an extramarital affair. Mary confronts Nancy about the alleged embezzlement and orders Nancy to sit down and answer questions. Mary tells Nancy that if she does not cooperate she will be fired and turned over to the police. Nancy complies and answers her questions and then leaves in tears. Mary subsequently learns that Nancy's ex-husband made the whole thing up to get back at Nancy for divorcing him.

Nancy sues Mary and the employer. What will be her legal theory and will she prevail? Be thorough, discuss and decide.

Adam is a supervisor working for a large tech company in Seattle. He has developed a strong dislike for Melissa, another supervisor who Adam regards as lazy and inept. One day Adam decides that he will try to get Melissa fired by anonymously posting a picture of her passed out at a local bar after a hard night of drinking on the company's bulletin board in a break room. Melissa discovers that Adam was responsible for the picture posting and sues him.

Will she win? What may be her legal theory/rule which forms the basis of a

complaint? Discuss and decide.