Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Civil Disabilities In An Era Of Diminishing Privacy: A Disability Approach For The Use Of Criminal Records In Hiring, Andrew Elmore

Faculty Scholarship

An evaluation of normative and legal frameworks to encourage the employment of people with criminal convictions is in order. While current approaches are likely to eliminate overbroad initial hiring screens, there remains the unfinished project of reintegrating persons with criminal convictions into the workforce. For this, policy tools are needed to discourage the misuse of irrelevant criminal convictions and to encourage a contextualized evaluation of criminal convictions and the fair consideration of applicants’ qualifications separate from them.

This Article proposes a disability normative and legal framework as a useful approach to guide this analysis. Disability laws first consider the privacy …

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 …

Retaliation And The Reasonable Person, Sandra F. Sperino

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

When a worker complains about discrimination, federal law is supposed to protect that worker from later retaliation. Recent scholarly attention focuses on how courts limit retaliation claims by narrowly framing the causation inquiry. A larger threat to retaliation law is developing in the lower courts. Courts are declaring a wide swath of conduct as insufficiently serious to constitute retaliation.

Many courts hold that it is legal for an employer to threaten to fire a worker, to place the worker on administrative leave, or to negatively evaluate the worker because she complained about discriminatory conduct. Even if the worker has evidence …

Liberating Sexual Harassment Law, Lua Kamál Yuille

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Sexual harassment law and the proposed solutions to that paradigm’s deficiencies teach a disheartening and peculiar lesson to women and gender performance minorities: “You may be disadvantaged at work because of your gender or your gender performance nonconformity. Discrimination against you is okay.” This albatross has inexplicably burdened sexual harassment law for the more than thirty-five years since it emerged as a redressable form of unlawful discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Article coherently explains the reason for it. It makes a simple claim: Sexual harassment law has failed to eradicate workplace gender discrimination, …

Reading Amendments And Expansions Of Title Vii Narrowly, Henry L. Chambers, Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

Throughout Title VII’s history, Congress has amended and expanded Title VII. Often, the Supreme Court has read such amendments and expansions narrowly, even as it generally reads Title VII broadly or narrowly depending on the case before it. The Court’s approach to Title VII expansions may merely indicate that the Court believes that such statutory alterations should be read only as broadly as necessary to effectuate their purposes. However, regardless of why the Court has interpreted these expansions narrowly, that the Court has done so suggests that Congress ought to consider carefully how it amends or expands Title VII in …

A Nation Of Widening Opportunities: The Civil Rights Act At 50, Ellen D. Katz, Samuel R. Bagenstos

Books

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an extraordinary achievement of law, politics, and human rights. On the fiftieth anniversary of the Act's passage, it is appropriate to reflect on the successes and failures of the civil rights project reflected in the statute, as well as on its future directions. This volume represents an attempt to assess the Civil Rights Act's legacy.

On October 11, 2013, a diverse group of civil rights scholars met at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor to assess the interpretation, development, and administration of civil rights law in the five decades since …

Introduction To Amici Curiae Brief In Young V. United Parcel Service, Inc., Joanna L. Grossman, Deborah L. Brake

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

On March 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., the most important pregnancy discrimination case before the Court in nearly a quarter century. The Court ruled for Peggy Young in a decision that will chart the path of pregnancy discrimination litigation for years to come. Our brief, published here with a short introduction, lays out our theory for why an employer’s refusal to accommodate pregnancy with light-duty assignments on the same terms as other medical conditions similarly affecting work violates Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The brief was …

Centering The Teenage "Siren": Adolescent Workers, Sexual Harassment, And The Legal Construction Of Race And Gender, Anastasia M. Boles

Law Faculty Scholarship

Recent scholarship and media attention has focused on the prevalence of sexually harassing behavior directed at working teenagers, and the emergence of sexual harassment lawsuits by these minors against their employers. Although many of the legal issues concerning workplace sexual harassment and adult workers (and the various state and federal jurisprudence prohibiting it) have been widely discussed, there is surprisingly little discourse, research, and precedent addressing the problem of workplace sexual harassment and teen workers.

Currently, most sexual harassment cases brought by adolescent workers are litigated using the doctrinal framework for adult workers. Only the Seventh Circuit has developed an …

Debunking Unequal Burdens, Trivial Violations, Harmless Stereotypes, And Similar Judicial Myths: The Convergence Of Title Vii Literalism, Congressional Intent, And Kantian Dignity Theory, Peter Brandon Bayer

Scholarly Works

Title VII prohibits employers from imposing their racial, sex-based, ethnic, or religiously inspired grooming and appearance standards, even if, in light of widely accepted social conventions, the vast majority would feel exceptionally uncomfortable in the presence of employees who refuse to comport with their employers' discriminatory rules. Indeed, nearly four decades ago, with correct simplicity and directness the Supreme Court recognized Title VII's first principle: "Congress intended to prohibit all practices in whatever form which create inequality in employment opportunity due to discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin." Therefore, contrary to the harsh dismay expressed …

Protecting Title Vii's Antiretaliation Provision In The Wake Of University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center V. Nassar, Kimberly A. Pathman

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Disparate Impact And Pregnancy: Title Vii's Other Accommodation Requirement, Camille Hébert

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Addressing Systemic Discrimination: Public Enforcement And The Role Of The Eeoc, Pauline Kim

Scholarship@WashULaw

Cases challenging systemic discrimination have always constituted an important slice of litigation under Title VII. Early government enforcement efforts sought thorough-going reform of employment practices in major industries. Private litigants have also pursued cases alleging systemic discrimination through class action litigation. The Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, however, made it considerably more difficult for private plaintiffs to pursue claims of systemic discrimination by raising the bar for certifying class actions. In the wake of the Court’s decision in Wal-Mart, many urged the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) to use its enforcement powers to take up the …

My Coworker, My Enemy: Solidarity, Workplace Control, And The Class Politics Of Title Vii, Ahmed A. White

Publications

No abstract provided.

Hoop Dreams Deferred: The Wnba, The Nba, And The Long-Standing Gender Inequity At The Game’S Highest Level, N. Jeremy Duru

Utah Law Review

From the beginning, the WNBA—which was born of the NBA’s approval in the NBA’s cities with NBA teams’ colors and largely NBA-related names and which survived a challenge from the ABL by virtue of its NBA affiliation—has featured a more stringent age eligibility rule than the NBA. When taken together, the two rules create two different tracks—one for men and one for women—to be negotiated on route to a professional basketball career in the United States. This sort of dualtracking, in which one route presents advantages over the other, is unacceptable in a nation committed to gender equity, and it …

Discrimination Cases Of The 2002 Term, Eileen Kaufman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Discrimination Cases In The October 2004 Term, Eileen M. Kaufman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Workplace Discrimination As A Public Health Issue: The Necessity Of Title Vii Protections For Volunteers, Elizabeth R. Langton

Fordham Law Review

What constitutes an employee is a recurring issue in U.S. employment law, especially with respect to volunteers.  Under Title VII, an employee is defined as “an individual employed by an employer.”  The U.S. Supreme Court has found that this definition is circular and explains nothing.  Given the vague statutory definition of “employee,” circuit courts are split over the correct test to determine employee status for the purposes of Title VII.

Workplace discrimination is especially toxic because the majority of the adult population spends its waking hours at work.  Thus far, courts have been focused on the individual nature of workplace …

Sexual Harassment And Labor Arbitration, Susan A. Fitzgibbon

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination In The United States In 1989: Revisions Or A Pause, Josef Rohlik

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Citizenship, Aliengage, And Ethnic Origin Discrimination In Employment Under The Law Of The United States, Mack A. Player

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court’S Heightened Retaliation Standard In Nassar: A Prudent Limitation Or A Misguided Restriction To Title Vii Claims?, Darren Stakey

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Seventh Circuit Allows American Subsidiary To Avoid Title Vii Liability By Asserting Fcn Treaty Rights Of Japanese Parent - American Employees Treated As Second Class Citizens - Court Cites Reciprocal Benefits For American Firms Operating Abroad - Fortino V. Quasar Co., 950 F.2d 389 (7th Cir. 1991)., Steven J. Lewengrub

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of Unconscious And Institutional Discrimination In The United States And Britain, Leland Ware

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Federalism And Business Decisions In The October 2005 Term, Carter G. Phillips

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Other Civil Rights Decisions In The October 2005 Term: Title Vii, Idea, And Section 1981, Eileen Kaufman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.