Rest of law

Unit VI

Question 1

Robert’s father was an American and a citizen of the United States, and Robert’s mother was a citizen of Great Britain. Robert was born in Great Britain, so he had dual citizenship – United States and Great Britain. When Robert became an adult, he renounced his United States citizenship, reaffirmed his citizenship in Great Britain, and began living in England. Later, Robert moved to the United States and became a resident alien of the United States and began work as a computer programmer. Robert applied for a job with a new and fast-growing Internet start-up company on the West Coast, but during the interview process, Robert mentioned that he had renounced his United States citizenship but that he was now a resident alien in the United States. The interviewer told Robert that Robert’s citizenship situation was troubling, and Robert was not offered the job.

Was the refusal to hire Robert because of his citizenship situation a violation of the prohibition of discrimination in employment based on national origin in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act? Are there other laws that prohibit this employer from discriminating in employment against Robert? What are those laws? Do these laws apply in this case? Why, or why not?

Question 2

A nursing home in Iowa, whose residents were all English-speakers and all over the age of 80, instituted a rule that required that all employees speak English while working since the residents of the nursing home were elderly and not able to understand any language other than English. Several of the employees of the nursing home were Latino and spoke Spanish fluently. The nursing home informed all employees, both verbally and in writing, of the English-only rule and gave verbal and formal, written warnings to several of the Latino employees who were overheard by management speaking Spanish in the presence of residents of the nursing home. After several such warnings, the nursing home discharged Catalina for continuing to speak Spanish in the presence of residents after she had been given several warnings not to speak Spanish while she was working.

Did the discharge of Catalina for the reason given constitute national origin discrimination? Why, or why not? What factors must be considered in deciding whether an employer can legally require that only English be spoken by employees while working?

Question 3

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from making any laws with respect to the establishment of religion or that interfere with the free exercise of religion. It is generally agreed that the provisions of the First Amendment apply to all levels of government. The United States Supreme Court has recently ruled that Christian prayers that are said at the beginning of meetings of elected officials local governments do not violate the provisions of the First Amendment that prohibit government from establishing a religion.

Paul is an employee of a local government and is required to attend meetings of the elected officials of the local government, but Paul is an atheist and objects to the Christian prayers that are always said at the beginning of the meeting. Therefore, Paul has asked his supervisor if he can join the meetings of local elected officials after the prayers are offered, but Paul’s supervisor has told Paul that out of respect for the elected officials, Paul must attend the entire meetings. Has Paul been discriminated against on the basis of his religion? Why, or why not?

Question 4

Meredith is a devout, evangelical Christian. She believes very deeply that she should tell everyone that she meets about her religion and that she should try to convert everyone that she meets to her religion. To accomplish those goals, Meredith tells everyone that she has contact with to “have a blessed day.” Since Meredith is the receptionist at Big City Flooring Company, everyone who comes into the business is greeted by Meredith with “have a blessed day.” Several customers of Big City Flooring Company have told Bill Big, the owner of Big City Flooring Company, that they are uncomfortable when Meredith tells them to “have a blessed day,” and those customers have asked Bill Big if there is some way that they can continue to deal with Big City Flooring Company without having to encounter Meredith. Bill Big has told those customers that he will talk to Meredith.

Can Bill Big tell Meredith not to greet customers by saying “have a blessed day” or something similar? Will limiting Meredith’s expression of her religious beliefs constitute religious discrimination in employment? What sort of accommodations does Bay City Flooring Company have to make for Meredith’s religious beliefs?

Unit VII

Question 1

In accordance with FAA regulations that require commercial airline pilots to retire at age 60, Fast Airlines has a broader policy that requires that all member of a flight crew – pilots, co-pilots, and flight engineers – must retire at age 60. Richard worked as a flight engineer for Fast Airlines for more than 25 years, and, when he approached the age of 60, he informed Fast Airlines that he felt that he was as able as ever to perform the duties of a flight engineer, that he had more experience as a flight engineer than any other employee of Fast Airlines, and that he wanted to work as a flight engineer beyond his 60th birthday. Fast Airlines responded to Richard’s request by agreeing that he was one of the airline’s most valuable employees and that his performance evaluations confirmed that he was as able as ever to perform the duties of flight engineer, but that company policy required that he retire. Is this age discrimination? Why, or why not? Could Fast Airline’s policy be modified to avoid the issue of age discrimination? How?

Question 2

Gene Johnson, who worked for Cable Fixers, Inc. for 21 years, was terminated when he was 69 years old and was replaced by a much younger man who Cable Fixers paid a significantly lower salary than it was paying Gene. Gene’s only evidence of age discrimination is an email from his manager stating that he (the manager) understood how long Gene had worked for Cable Fixers but that Gene was not doing as good a job as he used to do. Is this enough to establish age discrimination? What elements must Gene show to prove age discrimination? Can Cable Fixers fire an older, higher salaried employee and replace him with a younger lower paid employee?

Question 3

Sidney worked for the post office as a letter carrier, but after Sidney had hip surgery, he was no longer able to do the work of a letter carrier that required extended periods of walking and lifting of moderately heavy loads. After Sidney had exhausted the sick leave that he was entitled to take, he asked to be reassigned from letter carrier duty to light duty work in the post office where he worked. The post office did assign Sidney to a temporary light duty position, but after several weeks, the post office notified Sidney that there was no permanent light duty position for him. Sidney then requested that the post office create a permanent light duty position for him, but the post office refused that request, and Sidney accepted disability retirement. Sidney then sued the post office for failing to reasonably accommodate his disability. Is Sidney correct? What does an employer have to do to provide reasonable accommodation for an employee’s disability?

Question 4

William worked for a utilities company, Power, Inc., in an installation and maintenance position which sometimes required that William use man-lift equipment and climb utility poles. William was obese, and the utility company had safety regulations that required that employees who worked in William’s position not weigh more than the load limits of the equipment that was regularly used in that position. William weighed more than the safe load limits of the equipment used in his position, so his supervisor made sure that the job assignments given to William did not require him to use the man lift equipment or to climb utility poles. As part of a regular workers’ compensation insurance review, the insurance company for Power, Inc. determined that William’s weight presented an unreasonable risk of injury if he continued to work in the installation and maintenance position, so William’s supervisor advised William that he would have to lose weight in order to continue being employed by Power, Inc. Although William tried to lose weight, he was not able to lose enough to satisfy the insurance company. William said his inability to lose weight was due to the fact that he suffered from a lack of self-confidence and that he had never been able to control his weight. When William did not lose the weight necessary for him to perform his duties safely as determined by the insurance company, he was terminated. Did Power, Inc. improperly discriminate against William on the basis of a disability?

Unit VIII

Question 1

Oil Service Company has an office in a remote area in North Dakota. During an uncharacteristically heavy snow, three employees in the office of Oil Service Company called the manager of Oil Service Company to say that they did not think that they could get to work because of the heavy snow. The manager told each of those employees that he did not want them driving to work if they thought that it was too dangerous, but that since there was an important contract that had to be finished, and if they wanted, he (the manager) would come to their houses, pick them up, and bring them to work. Two of the three employees who called agreed to have the manager come to their houses and bring them to the office. One of those employees slipped on the ice in front of her house as she was coming down the front steps to the manager’s car and was injured.

Question 2

Construction workers were hired on an hourly basis to perform work being done by AC Contracting in a shipyard that was owned by BAE Company. Security procedures instituted by BAE Company required that the construction workers employed by AC Contracting park their cars outside of the shipyard and pass through a security gate to enter the shipyard. Once the construction workers employed by AC Contracting passed through the BAE Company security gate, they were required to ride on a bus to the construction site on a remote part of the shipyard. The security process and ride to the construction site took about one half hour each way every day, but during that time, construction workers employed by AC Contracting were not required to do any work other than carry their personal safety equipment. The construction workers claim that they should be paid from the time they begin the security check-in procedure until the time they complete the security check-out procedure.

Are these workers entitled to be paid for the time required to check in and out of the security gate and to ride to and from the construction site? If not, why not? If so, what law applies?

Question 3

During a campaign to organize a union at Total Manufacturing Co., two employees of Total asked other employees in the break room at Total if they would sign cards indicating their support of the union. The Vice President for Human Resources for Total was in the break room at the time and overheard the conversation about signing cards to support the union. That Vice President said to the employees who had been asked to sign the cards supporting the union that they should know the facts before they signed the cards, that in signing the cards, if the union won the election, they were giving up their right to decide later if they wanted to join the union and that they would be required to pay union dues if the union won the election. The Vice President also told the employees that they would be obligated to be union members and pay union dues even if the union was not able to improve their pay or benefits through negotiations with Total.

Were the Vice President’s statements an unlawful interference with the union organizing process? If so, what law applies?

Question 4

Big Jim Company sponsored a picnic for employees and purchased a propane grill equipped with a standard-sized propane tank for the picnic. To make sure there was enough propane for all the cooking that was to be done at the picnic, the employer also purchased a larger propane tank to replace the smaller propane tank that came with the grill. Though the larger propane tank contained a label warning that it should not be used with grills designed for smaller tanks, the employer was able to connect the larger tank to the grill. When the grill was turned on, two employees who had volunteered to do the cooking determined that the gas flow was not adequate to cook the meat, so they tried to adjust the larger propane tank and the valve connecting it to the grill to increase the flow of propane. After those adjustments were made, propane began to leak from the larger tank and caused an explosion which injured both of the employees who had volunteered to do the cooking.

Did the employer violate any of the duties imposed on it by OSHA? If not, why not. If so, what duties were violated?