Employment Law Exam 2: week 2 quizzes

A legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for a termination is called a "pretext."

False

An employee could file a disparate treatment discrimination claim based upon employer conduct that is seemingly neutral in regards to a certain protected class (such as a strength test), that nevertheless produces a discriminatory result (such as an unusually large number of women applicants being excluded from consideration).

False

An employee has three years from the date of an alleged act of race discrimination to file a discrimination claim in court.

False

An employer can successfully defend a race discrimination claim by proving that she was just following the instructions or preferences of her customers.

False

An employer may lawfully refuse to hire a white person because she is married to a black person, as race discrimination claims must be based on the race of the individual who is filing the claim.

False

An employer may never lawfully refuse to hire someone because of that individual's foreign-sounding accent, even if that individual's accent materially interferes with his ability to perform the essential tasks of the job in question.

False

An unpaid intern who is the clear victim of sexual harassment can successfully advance a Title VII discrimination claim against the employer conducting the internship program.

False

Because courts have a general obligation to ensure that adverse employment actions are fair (as opposed to illegal), courts are always willing to look beyond the law and grant relief to a plaintiff who was treated unfairly by her employer.

False

Circumstantial evidence cannot be used to prove a claim of disparate treatment discrimination under Title VII because a plaintiff can only prove such a claim with direct evidence of discrimination.

False

Disparate treatment claims based on race usually relate to seemingly neutral hiring requirements, such as a requirement of no arrests, that have a disproportionate impact on certain minority applicants.

False

Employees who believe they have been the victim of discrimination at work should carefully consider whether to file a discrimination claim based on race, color, religion, or national origin because courts will not allow an employee to file multiple discrimination claims based on more than one protected class.

False

Employers are always free under the law to recruit job applicants solely from the universities from which they graduated, such as an all-male college.

False

Employers seeking to cast actors for the film Little Women would likely be required by law to hire a man for at least one of the lead female roles.

False

Employers that truly believe men would not be interested in a particular employment position can legally limit their recruitment efforts to women.

False

If an employer can prove that its consideration of an individual's sex is necessary because being male or female is central to the performance of the position or a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ), the employer will still be liable for illegal sex discrimination if the employer does not at least consider both male and female applicants.

False

If an employer truly believes that women are more nurturing than men and wants to hire a nurturing employee to work at a day care, the employer can legally decide to consider only female applicants for this position.

False

If the customers of an employer request that an executive role be filled with a female candidate, the employer may legally decline to consider male applicants for the position.

False

In Case #16, Rucker v. Higher Educ. Aids Board, 669 F.2d 1179 (7th Cir. 1982), the plaintiff, Carl Rucker, lost his lawsuit because he was unable to prove that he himself had been the victim of race discrimination.

False

In Case #16, Rucker v. Higher Educ. Aids Board, 669 F.2d 1179 (7th Cir. 1982), the plaintiff, Carl Rucker, was unable to prove a Title VII violation because the white woman he sought to protect, Mary Phillips, ultimately received the promotion for which she had applied.

False

In Case #17, Fragante v. City of Honolulu, 888 F.2d 591 (9th Cir. 1989), the court ruled that the plaintiff, Manuel Fragante, had a valid claim of national origin discrimination based on evidence indicating that the City of Honolulu refused to hire Fragante due to his pronounced Filipino accent.

False

In Case #18, Walker v. IRS, 713 F. Supp. 403 (N.D. Ga. 1989), the court rejected the Title VII discrimination claim of plaintiff Tracy Walker on the theory that a Title VII discrimination claim cannot be brought by a light-skinned black person against a dark-skinned black person.

False

In all cases and for any type of job, employers may lawfully reject a job applicant on the basis of the applicant's foreign-sounding accent.

False

It is generally unlawful under Title VII for an employer to have different hair length requirements for male and female employees.

False

It is generally unlawful under Title VII for an employer to require female employees to wear makeup because this is nothing more than a gender-based stereotype.

False

The plaintiffs in Case #8 (Vazquez) and Case #9 (Stalter) both had their discrimination claims dismissed on summary judgment because they could not prove pretext.

False

Title VII could never apply to a workplace discrimination claim relating to a work assignment because the statute applies only to decisions relating to hiring and firing.

False

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) is the only federal statute that protects individuals from employment discrimination.

False

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) prohibits workplace discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, and genetics.

False

Title VII protects only women from sex-based discrimination because men have historically had access to better employment opportunities.

False

Title VII's prohibition against "national origin" discrimination protects only persons who are lawful United States citizens.

False

When hiring, Title VII generally permits employers to consider stereotypes based on gender, such as the fact that women tend to be less "aggressive" than men.

False

A "pretext" refers to an employer's explanation for an adverse employment action that is actually a cover-up for the employer's true, discriminatory intent.

True

A Title VII claim of race discrimination may be filed by a member of any race, be it a majority or minority racial group.

True

A document from the EEOC which provides an individual with the right to file a workplace discrimination claim in court is called a "right to sue" letter.

True

An employee who has solid proof that he was discriminated against because of his race when he did not receive a promotion typically cannot file a Title VII lawsuit in court without first filing a charge of discrimination with the EEOC.

True

An employee's refusal to follow the instructions of a supervisor, known as insubordination, might constitute a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for terminating the employee.

True

An employer cannot generally refuse to extend an offer of employment to someone solely because of his or her birthplace or country of origin.

True

An employer is not permitted to discriminate against women by arguing that its customers would prefer to work with men.

True

An employer may be able to avoid liability for a disparate impact discrimination claim with evidence that its challenged practice, such as a strength test, is directly related to successful job performance, despite its statistically adverse impact on a protected class.

True

Any state, such as New York or California, might decide to pass its own workplace discrimination law that creates additional protected classes beyond those covered by Title VII or any other federal statute.

True

Depending on the evidence, an employer's decision to hire only applicants who can lift at least 100 pounds over their heads could lead to a lawsuit alleging disparate impact discrimination.

True

Employees who are discriminated against because of their cultural traits, such as their traditional African wardrobe, can file a claim of "national origin" discrimination under Title VII.

True

Employers may be prohibited from imposing different rules for women on pregnancy leave than for employees who are on medical leave for reasons that are not pregnancy-related.

True

If an employer imposes an "English-only" rule based on a legitimate safety concern in the workplace, the employer should narrowly tailor the rule so it does not apply to particular areas in the workplace, such as the restroom, where the employer's legitimate safety concern is not present.

True

If an employer routinely employs members of all races, yet refuses to hire a person of any race who is involved in an interracial relationship, a job applicant who is denied employment for being involved in an interracial relationship might have a valid claim of race-based discrimination.

True

In Case #15, Jones v. UPS Ground Freight, 683 F.3d 1283 (11th Cir. 2012), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the plaintiff, Reginald Jones, was entitled to a jury trial on the issue of whether he had been the victim of a racially hostile work environment.

True

Sex-plus discrimination is the legal theory that employers will violate Title VII if they treat a male or female employee less favorably than the employee's opposite-gender counterpart based on the employee's (a) sex (e.g., female); and (b) an additional characteristic shared by both genders (e.g., having children).

True

Testimony that an employer made an announcement at a staff meeting that members of a certain race would not be eligible for a promotion can constitute direct evidence of intentional race discrimination.

True

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal administrative agency responsible for enforcing Title VII.

True

The Title VII prohibition against race discrimination relates to all phases of the employment process, encompassing, among other things, an employer's hiring and termination decisions.

True

The Unequal Burdens theory states that sex discrimination occurs in violation of Title VII when an employer imposes unreasonably unequal burdens on males and females in similar positions, such as when an employer disciplines female employees based on their weight but does not discipline similarly-situated male employees based on their weight.

True

The bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) defense recognizes that an employer may sometimes lawfully consider a person's sex when being a particular gender is central to successful performance of the position.

True

Title VII generally prohibits employers from refusing to promote an employee based on his or her sex.

True

Title VII prohibits illegal forms of both intentional and unintentional discrimination.

True

Title VII's prohibition against discrimination based on "color" would make it unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire dark-skinned black persons, and it would be no defense that the employer routinely hires light-skinned black persons.

True