Key EEO Cases

1
Key EEO Cases

• Kenneth M. York
• School of Business Administration
• Oakland University

2
Griggs v. Duke Power (1971)

• Facts of the case
• Blacks in one department only, lowest paying
• Whites in other departments
• After CRA64 company started new promotion system,
  to get promoted
• High school diploma
• Pass Wonderlic and Bennett Mechanical Aptitude
  Test

3
Griggs v. Duke Power (1971)

• Supreme Court ruling
• Employer violated Title VII because neither the
  tests nor the high school diploma were shown to
  be job related, and both requirements had adverse
  impact on blacks
• White employees promoted before the new promotion
  system were satisfactory performers
• There was evidence of past discrimination, new
  promotion system did not change that

4
Albemarle Paper Company v. Moody (1975)

• Facts of the case
• Blacks in one department only, lowest paying
• Whites in other departments
• Company reorganized itself in 1968, to get
  promoted
• High school diploma
• Pass Wonderlic and Revised Beta
• Company did a validation study, using concurrent
  test validation strategy
• Almost all who took the tests were white

5
Albemarle Paper Company v. Moody (1975)

• Supreme Court ruling
• Judicial remedy is to make injured parties whole,
  backpay is appropriate remedy
• If employer shows the tests with adverse impact
  are job-related, plaintiff must show another
  selection device would serve the employers
  interest without adverse impact
• Validation study was inadequate

6
Hazelwood v. U.S. (1977)

• Facts of the case
• Hazelwood is a rural Missouri school district
• School principal had unlimited discretion in
  hiring teachers
• Complaint is discrimination in hiring teachers
• 15.4 of area teachers were black
• 1.8 of Hazelwood teachers were black
• 2.0 of Hazelwood students were black

7
Hazelwood v. U.S. (1977)

• Supreme Court ruling
• The proper statistical comparison is between the
  racial composition of Hazelwoods teaching staff
  and qualified public school teacher population in
  the relevant labor market, not the student
  population
• Statistical disparity between qualified black
  teachers in labormarket and Hazelwood staff is
  prima facie case of race discrimination

8
Connecticut v. Teal (1982)

• Facts of the case
• To get promoted to Welfare Eligibility
  Supervisor, must pass a test
• 54 of Blacks passed, 80 of Whites passed
• AIR.54/.80.68
• But test was one part of multi-part selection
  process, actually promoted
• 23.9 of Blacks promoted, 13.5 of Whites
  promoted
• Bottom line favored Blacks

9
Connecticut v. Teal (1982)

• Supreme Court ruling
• Bottom line is not a defense, if one component of
  a multi-part selection process has adverse
  impact, the process has adverse impact
• Any test that has discriminatory impact violates
  CRA64
• Title VII does not permit a victim of a
  discriminatory policy to be told that he has not
  been wronged because other people of his race or
  sex were hired
• Most confusing case

10
Coleman v. Wayne State University (1987)

• The facts of the case
• Black full professor at WSU College of Nursing
  claimed race discrimination in pay, sought
  backpay
• Salary was consistently lower than white full
  professors 1978-1985
• To demonstrate adverse impact, must show
• Discriminated against because of her race, and
• Individually suffered as part of a pattern or
  practice that affected other Blacks in the College

11
Coleman v. Wayne State University (1987)

• Binomial test (z-test)
• Shows salary more than 2 SDs less than mean full
  professors salary in 1978, 1983, 1984, 1986
• Judgment shows judge relied heavily on this
  analysis
• Partial correlations
• Race and salary should not be correlated
• Partial out other variables know to be related to
  salary
• Year-hiredsalary compression
• Rankfull paid more than associate, associate
  more than assistant
• Yearinflation
• Salary race across all ranks, r .10, p.05
• Salary race, partial out year-hired, rank,
  year, r .20, p .001
• Salary race, partial year, year hired, full
  professors only, r .54, p .01

12
Coleman v. Wayne State University (1987)

• District Court ruling
• The discrepancy in salary was based upon illegal
  discriminatory criteria
• Unbelievable that a person with her academic
  record would be paid so much less than her peers
• McArthur awarded salary equal to average salary
  for white full professors, across all the years
  (about 150,000 plus benefits)

13
Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara
City, California (1987)

• Facts of the case
• In 1978 SCCTA created an Affirmative Action Plan
  to get more women in skilled crafts, road
  dispatcher, and other jobs
• In 1979, a vacancy for Road Dispatcher brought 12
  applicants, 9 were qualified and interviewed, 7
  got second interview, scores
• Unidentified male80
• Johnson75
• Unidentified male74
• Joyce73
• Panel of SCCTA supervisors recommendedJohnson
• County coordinator for Affirmative Action
  promoted Joyce

14
Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara
City, California (1987)

• Supreme Court ruling
• SCCTAs AAP is a moderate, flexible, case-by-case
  approach to gradually improving the
  representation of minorities and women in their
  workforce in underrepresented jobs
• Sex can be considered as one factor in judging
  among qualified applicants

15
Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara
City, California (1987)

• The Road Dispatcher job required a minimum of 4
  years of dispatch or road maintenance work
  experience for Santa Clara County
• Joyce worked as road maintenance worker for Santa
  Clara County 1975-1979
• Johnson worked as road maintenance worker for
  Santa Clara County 1977-1979
• Joyce applied for road dispatcher position in
  1974 but was considered ineligible

16
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins (1989)

• Facts of the case
• Hopkins was a senior manager, got 25 million
  contract with Department of State, brought in 40
  million in new business, more than any other
  candidate for partnership
• Was proposed for partnership in 1982 (only
  woman), put on hold for reconsideration following
  year
• 622 partners, 7 women
• Was not re-proposed for partnership in 1983,
  Hopkins resigned

17
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins (1989)

• Supreme Court ruling
• There were mixed motives for denying partnership,
  legitimate and illegitimate
• Clients praised her, staff said she lacked
  interpersonal skills
• Some partners reacted negatively to her,
  judgments influenced by sex stereotyping
• Awarded partnership at Price Waterhouse, and
  350,000 in back pay

18
Harmer v. Virginia Electric Power Co. (1993)

• Facts of the case
• Harmer suffered from bronchial asthma, aggravated
  by tobacco smoke from nearby workers, requested
  VEP eliminate smoke-filled air in his working
  environment
• VPE took various steps, virtual ban on smoking
  in all its facilities
• Harmer sued under ADA for an injunction against
  all smoking

19
Harmer v. Virginia Electric Power Co. (1993)

• District Court ruling
• ADA protects Harmer from discrimination due to
  his disability
• But not entitled to a complete smoking ban as a
  reasonable accommodation to his disability, not
  entitled to absolute accommodation

20
EEOC v. Liggett Meyers, Inc. (1982)

• Facts of the case
• After Gfeller was appointed director of sales,
  the company began an intensive program of
  personnel changes
• All of the region managers were over 40 years
  old, all replaced by younger people
• Gardiner (46) was told he was too old for the
  job
• DErasmo (27) was just the type of young man
  needed

21
EEOC v. Liggett Meyers, Inc. (1982)

• District Court ruling
• Overwhelming evidence of discriminatory attitude
  on age
• Although other factors may have been considered,
  age was one of the determining factors
• The violations of the company were willful
• Double damages to more than 100 employees