Chapter 3: Equal Employment Opportunity
Reviewing Important Concepts
1. Describe the groups protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and explain how well the
act has accomplished the goal of eliminating discrimination against those groups. What
would you have added to the act to make it more effective? (LO 1)
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gives individuals protection on the basis of race, color, religion,
sex, and national origin. Many groups needing protection from discrimination were left out
2. Select one of the cases concerning employment discrimination that seems to be most
important to fairness in employment and explain your reasoning. (LO 3)
Many cases and related issues are explained in the case including Griggs v. Duke Power
(discriminatory testing and requirements), Albemarle Paper Company v. Moody (how to
validate testing), Bakke V. The Regents of the University of California at Davis(Affirmative
Action quotas), United Steelworkers of America v. Weber (special preference to minorities
in Affirmative Action), Firefighters Local 1784 v. Stotts (seniority systems have priority over
3. What is an adverse impact? How does it differ from adverse or disparate treatment? (LO
4)
An adverse impact is any consequence of employment that results in a disparate rate of
selection, promotion, or termination of protected group members. Adverse treatment is when
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4. What is meant by “reasonable accommodation” as it pertains to the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990? (LO 2)
Employers are required to make alterations in the work environment, as long as it does not
5. Explain why an employee might file a claim of retaliation and why retaliation claims are on
the rise. (LO 1 2, 7)
An employee might file a claim of retaliation if he/she feels that the action taken by an
employer would not have occurred if the employee had not first filed a complaint against the
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6. Explain how the two types of sexual harassment differ. (LO 6)
Quid pro quo harassment occurs when some type of sexual behavior is expected as a
condition of employment such as getting hired, raises, promotions, disciplinary actions or
7. What is the purpose of the FMLA and who does it cover? (LO 2)
FMLA allows unpaid leave for specific family related reasons like childbirth, adoption, the
employee’s own illness or to care for a sick family member, with a guarantee of retaining an
employee’s job when he/she returns from leave. The FMLA benefits were extended in 2008
to include family members of military personnel who are on active duty. Employees who
Evaluating Alternatives
8. “Affirmative action does not work. When you’re hired under an affirmative action
program, you’re automatically labeled as such and are rarely recognized for the value
that you can bring to an organization.” Develop arguments for and against this
statement. Which do you agree with and why? (LO 1, 3, 4)
Agree. It will be evident if someone is hired with substandard credentials or lacking skills
Disagree. Quotas do not mean an employer must hire anyone who is not qualified. If a
competent person is hired and demonstrates her ability to do a job, she will make it past the
9. A local employer confides to you that she secretly does internet searches of applicants
before she calls them in for interviews. She tells you that she has a very established
clientele and needs to make sure her new employees “fit in”. She’s particularly
concerned about people with visible tattoos and piercings, but explains that she’s also
on the lookout for bad grammar, handicaps and people with gray hair. She explains
“my customers expect a fresh, ‘All-American’ look here. My employees look like the
boy or girl next door.” Is she breaking any laws? If so, which ones and how? Can she
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legally avoid hiring people with any of these characteristics? (LO 1, 7)
Screening applicants before interviews opens the employer to claims of discrimination.
Applicants may claim that she is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by screening
for protected characteristics such as race, gender, religion, national origin, or others such as
10. Here are the answers to the questions in the chapter opener. Do you agree with them?
Explain why you agree or disagree.
Fred Meyer’s Store: Yes and Yes. Employers may be liable if customers are permitted to
Omaha Bank: Yes and Yes. Four days was a reasonable time to investigate the complaint
Avco Corp: No and Yes. Since supervisors are often harassers, there should have been
another way to file a complaint and Avco should not have told the women not to file a
Research and Communication Skills
These activities require students to research a topic and report the findings to the instructor or the
class. They can be assigned to either individuals or groups and are designed to develop critical
Activity Summaries
11. Six situations that may or may not be sexual harassment are presented. Some suggested
responses: (LO 6)
a. A female supervisor frequently praises the work of a highly competent male
employee who recently received a merit raise. His female co-workers are
b. A female employee in a mostly male department voluntarily accepts a date with
c. A male employee is given favored work assignments in exchange for arranging
dates for his boss.
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arranging the dates. He might consider what would happen to his work
assignments if any of those dates go badly or if he can’t find willing dates at all.
d. Male employees put rubber snakes, spiders, and mice in the lunch box of a female
coworker because she screams when she is surprised by them. Male coworkers do
e. A male has asked two female coworkers to stop embarrassing him by telling jokes
of a sexual nature and sharing their sexual fantasies, but they continue, telling him
a “real man wouldn’t be embarrassed”
f. Al tells Marge an offensive joke, but when Marge says “Al, I don’t appreciate
your nasty jokes,” Al responds, “I’m sorry, Marge, you’re right, I shouldn’t have
told that one at work.”
12. The EEOC website’s list of recent lawsuits is examined for trends. Students report
13. Students will contact the EEO office with responsibility for your area and determine
14. If your college has an EEO/Affirmative Action officer, students will determine what
Making a Difference: Service Learning Projects
Overview: Service Learning Projects provide students with opportunities to develop and
demonstrate HR skills and build a professional network that will assist in getting a job in HR.
The activities that relate to this chapter on EEO involve informing or assisting young workers,
veterans or active military members. A sample assignment with requirements and grading
materials is available at the front of the Instructor’s Manual and as a download from the text
website.
Case Application 3 – A: The Best of Intentions
The HR Director of a manufacturing company learns the hard way that doing the right thing can
be complicated when she handles a sexual harassment complaint and ends up with at least one
retaliation complaint and possibly two.
Questions:
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1. Explain the concept of retaliation and evaluate the validity of Anton’s and possibly
Ramona’s retaliation claims. (LO 1, 2, 6, 7)
Retaliation involves negative job action taken against an employee for making an EEO
complaint.
Anton made a common threat meant to discourage employers from taking disciplinary
action when he made an age discrimination after his last performance appraisal. Any
adverse employment action taken after that complaint, including the disciplinary action for
breaking the equipment would prompt him to make a complaint that he had been retaliated
against for making the age discrimination complaint. The EEOC will probably decide that
2. Evaluate Alison’s handling of the supervisor so far. How should Alison handle the
supervisor’s return to work? (LO 1, 6)
Alison should make sure that the supervisor’s version of the events and Ramona’s versions
agree. If they do, the action taken against the supervisor is probably appropriate. The
3. Outline a program and policy for Alison that will help to prevent further sexual
harassment. (LO 1, 6)
These suggestions from chapter three should be included in student answers:
Issue a sexual harassment policy describing what constitutes harassment and what
inappropriate behavior is.
Institute a procedure to investigate harassment charges.
Inform all employees of the sexual harassment policy
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4. Research: Are retaliation complaints in the U.S. decreasing or on the rise? Explain some
reasons given for the change in number of complaints. What can employers do to prevent
retaliation claims? (LO 1, 7)
Case Application 3 – B: Diversity is Fashionable
The case focus describes how Abercrombie & Fitch recruited employees based on an image the
company wanted to project and staffed their stores with sales people that were primarily white
and athletic. The female employee who thought she was being hired for a job on the sales floor
found herself cleaning and dusting; hence she was treated differently than everyone else. She
filed a complaint with the EEOC, who found Abercrombie & Fitch hired minority employees to
do only low visibility, back-of-the-store jobs. Also, the company refused to hire minority
students with impressive work and school records, and had a percentage of minority managers
well below industry average. Abercrombie did not admit guilt, but settled the suit for $50
million, agreeing to do a better job of hiring and promoting minorities
1. Abercrombie and Fitch attempts to maintain a trendy and youthful look in their
stores to support their products. Is there a way they can maintain that look without
creating an adverse impact or adverse treatment in their recruiting, screening and
hiring practices? (LO 1, 2)
An employer can maintain a certain “look” or “image” without violating EEOC
regulations with dress codes that fit the image of the organization but do not discriminate,
2. Suggest a list of at least five things that Abercrombie and Fitch can do at the
corporate and local store level to increase the number of minority applicants?
Explain which of the things on your list would be most effective and why. (LO 1, 2)
A variety of activities are suggested in chapter 3 including:
Ask employees who are in an underrepresented group to help recruit.
Participate in job fairs at colleges, universities, places of worship, social clubs, and
community‐based organizations where minorities are in a majority or in attendance.
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3. Are there other employers that you feel need to make a better effort at diversity? Do
any of the permitted exceptions to Title VII justify their lack of diversity? (LO 1)
Student answers will vary on this question.
4. Research: How has Abercrombie been doing lately? What evidence can you find that
they are making progress toward their diversity goals? Outline any new diversity
complaints against the company. (LO 1, 2, 7)
It’s interesting to note that they have recently fired their CEO, restructured, and
repositioned their products and marketing efforts. Students may feel that those changes
Online Case Application 3 – C: Team Fun!
Questions:
1. What is the probable defense for the baseball gear job (BFOQ, 4/5ths rule, glass ceiling)?
Explain. (LO 1, 4)
2. How do age discrimination and the Americans with Disabilities Act apply to Fred’s situation?
(LO 1, 2)
3. Is TEAM FUN! open to discrimination charges in other areas? (LO 1, 2, 3, 4)
4. What should be done to protect TEAM FUN! from discrimination charges? (LO 4, 5, 6)
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