MindTap: Brief Hypotheticals 21.1

Byron runs a business cleaning gutters. Lance, who is in a wheelchair, applies for a job working for Byron as a cleaner. Byron does not hire Lance and is very frank about the reason: Lance's disability. If Lance sues Byron,

Byron will win, if he can show that being able to climb a ladder is a requirement of the position.

James was a thirty-eight-year-old man in good health. One of his hands shook slightly for no apparent reason. The doctors could not find a medical cause for it. James's employer worried about the potential for early-onset Parkinson's disease or another neurological disorder, so he fired James. Under the ADA:

James can bring a claim as being "regarded" as having a disability.

Melanie and Beau both work in comparable jobs at Technology Impact, Inc. Melanie is paid 15 percent less than Beau. Which of the following is not a legitimate defense to this pay inequality?

The company pays Melanie less, because she has a husband who is a highly successful businessperson.

Min applies for a job as a receptionist at an accounting firm. If she is denied a job because she is of Asian origin, she may be a victim of:

disparate-treatment discrimination.

Eastminster Presbyterian Church has an opening for a new head pastor. Mohammed, who is a Muslim, applies for the job. The church declines to hire him and continues to look for other applicants. If Mohammed files a claim of illegal discrimination against the church, the church:

may assert a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) defense.

Julio lives in an area with a high percentage of Hispanic workers. Many of these workers are legal immigrants who have relatively little college training. If, when Julio applies for his job, he is given an examination designed for a college graduate, and if he and most Hispanic applicants fail to pass the test, the employer:

might be engaged in disparate-impact discrimination.

Rhonda is not hired for her dream position and believes that she is the victim of gender discrimination. She is angry and wants to file a lawsuit immediately in the closest courthouse she can find. Rhonda:

must first file a complaint with the EEOC.

Melissa works as a computer data-entry operator at VeraSign. Melissa informs VeraSign that she was just diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, which causes pain in her wrists, rendering her unable to use a keyboard. Melissa requests as an accommodation that VeraSign hire a data-entry employee to enter the information on her behalf. VeraSign refuses to do so. VeraSign has:

not violated the ADA, because the requested accommodation is an undue hardship on the employer.

Carl tells Jenny that he will give her a raise if she agrees to have a romantic relationship with him. In legal terms, this is known as:

quid pro quo harassment.

Wally is blind and would like to work for Dairy Times writing articles on the dairy industry. Wally uses voice-recognition software that allows him to dictate articles to his computer. His computer is specially designed for visually impaired individuals. Dairy Times interviews Wally but offers the job to a sighted person instead. Dairy Times may have violated:

the ADA.

Norm worked as a sales person for his firm. When he turned fifty, the office had a party for him. His boss made a lot of jokes about Norm getting too old to keep up with the younger staff. Those comments continued past the party for several months. Norm was fired six months later. When he filed a complaint for age discrimination, the boss defended his actions by saying Norm was fired for not meeting sales quotas. Norm had missed his quota for only one month, and he provided evidence that younger employees who had missed up to three months of the quotas were not terminated. Norm is attempting to show that:

the employer's defense was a pretext.

Carter University has an admissions policy that requires a certain number of points to be automatically awarded to minority applicants. This type of policy may violate which clause of the U.S. Constitution?

the equal protection clause.

Kay runs a business with a target customer population of twenty- to forty-five-year-olds. Because she wants her employees to be "in tune" with the younger crowd, she requires all of her front staff to quit or retire from her company at the age of fifty. This:

violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

Kurt is 52 years old and, until recently, worked for a company covered by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967. He wants to bring a claim of age discrimination against his employer, because he was replaced by a younger, lower-paid worker. To make out a prima facie case of age discrimination, Kurt does not have to establish that he:

was replaced by someone younger than 40 years old.

Rheingold Supply has a seniority system by which employees who have worked the longest are first in line for promotions and last to be laid off. As a result, most of the senior managers at Rheingold Supply are men. If Jane files a claim of illegal discrimination, Rheingold Supply:

will have a legitimate defense, because Rheingold Supply has a seniority system in place.