Law Commons^™

From Nipples To Powder, Marian Kousaie

Akron Law Review

Working moms are a force to be reckoned with. They often balance demanding jobs with equally demanding familial obligations. They pack lunches, schedule play dates, and head the soccer team carpool while juggling client needs and prepping for board meetings. But sometimes, when a new mother is ready to jump back into the workforce, she is met with a difficult decision—whether or not to continue breastfeeding her baby. Even though she is a force to be reckoned with, does her workplace provide the support that she needs to continue to provide breast milk to her baby? Questions present themselves about …

Seniority Layoffs: The Bitter Fruits Of Victory, Andrea Krill

Akron Law Review

IT IS UNDENIABLE that the inertia of the civil rights laws has speeded the progress of equal employment opportunity. Minorities and women at last have enjoyed some measure of increased job entries and upward mobility. The current recession threatens to reverse this process. Seniority is the ambrosia of the working classes conferring a kind of employment immortality in return for their efforts. Those who have drunk deeply from the cup are secure, for their longer service renders them impervious to the furies of economic change. In many instances, those who have merely whetted their thirst are the more recently hired …

Seniority Layoffs: The Bitter Fruits Of Victory, Andrea Krill

Akron Law Review

IT IS UNDENIABLE that the inertia of the civil rights laws has speeded the progress of equal employment opportunity. Minorities and women at last have enjoyed some measure of increased job entries and upward mobility. The current recession threatens to reverse this process.

Seniority is the ambrosia of the working classes conferring a kind of employment immortality in return for their efforts. Those who have drunk deeply from the cup are secure, for their longer service renders them impervious to the furies of economic change. In many instances, those who have merely whetted their thirst are the more recently hired …

Bona Fide Occupation Qualifications And The Military Employer: Opportunities For Females And The Handicapped, Tim M. Callaghan

Akron Law Review

This article explores the hiring and job placement policies of the United States military departments' in light of the concept of the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ). In essence a BFOQ criterion is a requisite to the actual performance of an employment task; a potential employee may be refused a position if he lacks an ability or characteristic which can be labeled as a BFOQ.

Although the study of military employment practices may induce emotional argumentation, this article avoids any conclusions based upon traditional roles of potential employees and deals with two classes of potential employees. The first class of …

Seniority Systems And Title Vii, Arthur J. Marinelli

Akron Law Review

Seniority provisions frequently work to the disadvantage of minorities because earlier employment discrimination, prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,1 leaves them with fewer years of service. A conflict is thus created between the tradition of seniority and the goals of equal opportunity and affirmative action. The applicability of Title VII to seniority systems and the affirmative action tools for achieving the national policy of equal opportunity will be the focus of this article.

Title Vii, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Disclosure Policy, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission V. Associated Dry Goods Corp, Kenneth L. Wittenauer

Akron Law Review

Amid judicial turmoil, the EEOC developed procedural guidelines to best effectuate its interpretation of Title VII policies. The Commission's procedural regulations permit the disclosure of the investigative files of the individual and of individuals with similar charges against the same employer even before a lawsuit has been filed. However, the EEOC has been forced to restrict access to its files in those jurisdictions which follow Sears while maintaining a more liberal disclosure policy in the remaining jurisdictions.

Title Vii Discrimination Actions: Applicable Or Inapplicable To The Partnership Decision? Hishon V. King & Spalding, Gus Yogmour

Akron Law Review

An underlying premise of a partnership is that it is a strictly voluntary association between two or more persons for a business purpose. The concept that a partnership can be forced against its will to accept another individual into the organization as a partner is repugnant to the underlying premise of voluntariness of association. One purpose of Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and to place men and women on an equal footing. In order for this equal footing to exist, an individual's capabilities can be the only …

Affirmative Action: Alive And Well After Stotts, Ralph J. Conrad

Akron Law Review

This comment examines the current state of affirmative action in light of the special protection that the Supreme Court grants seniority systems. This comment also discusses the future of affirmative action and how the changes in affirmative action will affect collective bargaining agreements and consent decrees.

Meritor Savings Bank V. Vinson: The Supreme Court's Recognition Of The Hostile Environment In Sexual Harassment Claims, Victoria T. Bartels

Akron Law Review

This casenote will examine Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson in light of the brief legal history of Title VII sexual harassment claims and will consider the implications of both the Court's holding and its dicta regarding the undecided issues.

Local Number 93, International Association Of Firefighters V. City Of Cleveland: A Consent Decree Is Not An Adjudicated Order For Purposes Of Title Vii, Paul Leslie Jackson

Akron Law Review

This note will examine the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Local 93, International Association of Firefighters v. City of Cleveland, and explore its potential implications in future Title VII actions. The issue the Supreme Court had to decide was whether a consent decree is a form of court ordered relief for purposes of Title VII litigation.

Title Vii: Legal Protection Against Sexual Harassment, Arthur J. Marinelli Jr.

Akron Law Review

The purpose of this article is to examine early case law and recent court decisions involving sexual harassment, especially Meritor v. Vinson. The article will discuss employer avoidance of liability under the EEOC guidelines and will urge employers to implement steps to investigate, prohibit, and sensitize supervisors to sexual harassment.

Making And Meeting The Prima Facie Case Under The Fair Housing Act, Frederic S. Schwartz

Akron Law Review

This article will deal almost exclusively with cases in the Individual Discrimination category.

Analysis of the housing discrimination cases requires that the fundamental substantive issue and the fundamental procedural issue be carefully distinguished. The substantive issue is simply whether the Act has been violated. That issue will be ultimately decided by the jury (or the judge in a trial to the court). The fundamental procedural issue with which we shall be concerned is whether the plaintiff has established his "prima facie case."

Part II of this paper will deal with the substantive issue and Part III with the procedural one. …

The Respective Burdens Of Proof In Title Vii Cases: Price Waterhouse V. Hopkins Confuses The Issue, Gregory T. Rossi

Akron Law Review

employed women, and other minorities throughout the United States. The opinion has several significant aspects. First, the case defines the respective evidentiary burdens of a plaintiff-employee and defendant-employer in a Title VIP suit, when the plaintiff-employee has shown that the defendant-employer's employment action resulted from a consideration of legitimate and illegitimate factors (i.e., "mixed motive case"). Second, the express allocation of the burdens of proof resolved a conflict among the various Courts of Appeals. Third, the Court failed to issue a majority opinion. This is significant in light of the current republican administration and its influence on what is now …

Title Vii And Rule 301: An Analysis Of The Watson And Atonio Decisions, Hugh Joseph Beard Jr.

Akron Law Review

The thesis of this paper is that the recent opinions of the Supreme Court in Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust and Wards Cove Packing Ca v. Atonio are consistent with development of the last fifteen years of antidiscrimination jurisprudence under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and are the logical and necessary result of two independent decisions made by the Congress and by the Supreme Court in 1975: the enactment of Rule 301 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the decision in Albemarle Paper Ca v. Moody. This paper shall demonstrate that these …

Watson And Subjective Hiring Practices: The Continuing Saga Of Industrial Psychology, Title Vii And Personnel Selection, Daniel L. Bell

Akron Law Review

This comment will analyze Watson from both a legal and industrial psychological perspective. Part one of the comment discusses the legal impact of Watson. First, the Supreme Court's analytical framework for Title VII discrimination claims is presented. Next, Watson is analyzed in the context of prior case law to consider its potential impact on employment discrimination litigation.

Part two concentrates on the role of industrial psychology in the Watson decision. First, the comment introduces industrial psychology. The association of industrial psychology, Title VII, and personnel selection is presented next. Finally, the comment presents current industrial psychological research concerning several …

United Auto Workers V. Johnson Controls, Inc.: One Small Step For Womankind, A. L. Cherry

Akron Law Review

In United Auto Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court was faced with the task of deciding whether women's childbearing capacity could be used to limit women's job choices and opportunities within certain industrial/ manufacturing fields. The Court decided that the ability to bear children could be used to so limit women, but only if the employer met a high standard. In Johnson Controls, employees who worked in a toxic work environment sought a determination that their employer's fetal protection policy discriminated on the basis of sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act …

Sexual Harassment In The Workplace: A Primer, Barry S. Roberts, Richard A. Mann

Akron Law Review

This Article is a primer for attorneys to use when advising their clients on how to address sexual harassment in the workplace. We will begin by describing the scope and severity of the sexual harassment problem. Then we will examine the recently strengthened federal law governing sexual harassment in the workplace. Finally, we will suggest policies and procedures for establishing and implementing a sexual harassment policy.

West V. Gibson: Federal Employees Win The Battle, But Ultimately Lose The War For Compensatory Damages Under Title Vii, Christina M. Royer

Akron Law Review

This Note analyzes the Supreme Court's decision in West v. Gibson against the backdrop of the new damages provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the EEOC system for federal employees. Section II provides a brief legislative history of the 1991 CRA, outlines the EEOC complaint procedure specifically tailored to federal sector employees, and describes the cases leading up to West v. Gibson. Section III describes the Supreme Court's reasoning in Gibson, and Section IV analyzes the decision, concluding that, given the realities of congressional compromise and systemic constraints, the Supreme Court's decision actually does little to benefit …

Genaro V. Central Transport: A New Direction In Ohio Law Regarding Employment Discrimination, Karen Gaum

Akron Law Review

Part I of this Note will examine the Genaro decision in depth, focusing on the Ohio Supreme Court’s reasoning. The court looked at the language of Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4112, specifically the use of the word “agent” as support for its imposition of individual liability. In addition, Part II will also examine the the policy goals the Ohio Supreme Court has attempted to achieve. Finally, Part II will also demonstrate that the Genaro decision is a poor one, one which was not legislatively intended, one that imposes an undue burden on individuals without a corresponding increase in benefit to …

Will Employment Discrimination Class Actions Survive?, Melissa Hart

Akron Law Review

This paper will argue that the changes wrought by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 do not in fact pose a barrier to resolution of employment discrimination claims through class litigation. The addition of compensatory and punitive damages and a jury-trial right in the Civil Rights Act of 1991 may increase the level of scrutiny and perhaps the level of judicial involvement necessary in an employment discrimination class action. But they do not render such a class action either impermissible under Rule 23 or violative of due process or Seventh Amendment jury trial rights. Courts and commentators who insist that …

License To Harass: Holding Defendants Accountable For Retaining Recidivist Harassers, Kerri Lynn Stone

Akron Law Review

This Article proposes that courts change the way in which they adjudicate Title VII disputes by evaluating the harm avoidance demonstrated by plaintiffs and employers in light of the totality of what each party knew or should have known about the potential harm, and what each party did or could have done to prevent it. Specifically, this Article is premised on the ideas that 1) harassment complaints are, typically, initially dealt with internally; often, an employer will remediate reported harassment by ordering or granting a transfer to separate a harasser and his victim; and 2) many harassers are, in fact …

Relevance Is Irrelevant: A Plain Meaning Approach To Title Vii Retaliation Claims, Eric Ledger

Akron Law Review

This article is a case note on the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Niswander. The position of this note is that for the purpose of establishing a retaliation claim under Title VII, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e3(a), courts should consider the good-faith production of confidential documents in response to a formal request for discovery as participation activity, not opposition activity. Whether the produced documents are relevant to a formal discovery request should not factor into the participation analysis. The determining question should be whether the employee acted in good faith.

This note will first describe the factual background of the Niswander …

Relevance Is Irrelevant: A Plain Meaning Approach To Title Vii Retaliation Claims, Eric Ledger

Akron Law Review

This article is a case note on the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Niswander. The position of this note is that for the purpose of establishing a retaliation claim under Title VII, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e- 3(a), courts should consider the good-faith production of confidential documents in response to a formal request for discovery as participation activity, not opposition activity. Whether the produced documents are relevant to a formal discovery request should not factor into the participation analysis. The determining question should be whether the employee acted in good faith. This note will first describe the factual background of the Niswander …