Stand-Alone Project: Potential Title VII and Other Violations
(200 points)

Your Stand-Alone Project responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct, and formatted in the same fashion as the project itself. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your response and document in a bibliography using APA style. (200 points) (A 10-page response is required.)

You are the Human Resources Manager for the hypothetical law firm of Dewey, Seward, & Howe, which specializes in Intellectual Property. The firm is based in Chicago, but has satellite officers in Washington, D.C. and Denver. Even following the recession, the firm employs over 100 individuals. All three locations operate year round. Two of the partners and one associate are in need of an experienced legal secretary. All three will share the secretary, with priority being given to the partners’ work. Thurston Howe and Bill Bradley are the partners, and Walter Sneed is the associate.

You conduct initial interviews of ten candidates and then pass along the three most qualified candidates to the attorneys. They are: Angela Wharton, Fred Dunston, and Martina Smith-Patel. Thurston then comes to you and says his wife is pressuring him to hire Barbie Benton, one of his daughters-in-law. Barbie joins the competition.

Angela Wharton is white, divorced, female, 43 years of age, and has over ten years of experience as a legal secretary. With her permission, you conducted a background check of Ms. Wharton and found no red flags. You checked her references and all but her last employer confirmed she is a great employee. The last firm said Ms. Wharton was discharged for missing too many days of work. She volunteered to you during the initial interview that she was fired while undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer. She performed well on the aptitude test regarding legal jargon and the court system, and did well on typing tests.

Fred Dunston is black, single, male, 32 years old, and has five years of experience, all of it in IP. With Fred’s permission, you conducted a background check and discovered that Fred has very poor credit. Fred’s aptitude and typing scores were good. His references give him glowing reviews. The HR manager at his last job confided in you that Fred is gay. “He dresses rather flamboyantly at times,” she said, “jewelry and wild patterns, so you may have to caution him about proper business attire. But we were sorry to see him go. We simply are too small to compete with large firms’ salaries. Fred deserved better pay so he left.” You suspected Fred was gay during the interview process, but have no personal issues with his sexual orientation and neither does the firm. You worry though about Walter Sneed. He comes across as homophobic at times during meetings.

Martina Smith-Patel is white, married, female, 27 years old, and has only three years of legal secretary experience, all of it in family law and probate. Unlike the others, however, she has a bachelor’s degree. You believe she can easily catch on to IP work, in part because she passed the aptitude and typing tests with higher scores than Angela and Fred. Her references all check out. Her background check revealed good credit and no criminal history.

Barbie Benton arrived late to the interview. She is white, forty years old, married to Thurston’s son, and has twelve years of legal experience, mostly in litigation. She has been out of the workforce, however, for the past five years. During that time, she was raising two children who are now in high school. You don’t bother to check her references, because Thurston advises you it isn’t necessary. You don’t have her take the aptitude test about legal jargon, but she takes the typing test and performs well considering her lapse in employment.

Ultimately, the attorneys decide to hire Angela Wharton. You learned that Bill Bradley, at least according to Bill, “nonchalantly” discussed childcare issues with Martina during the group interview with Thurston and Walter, and also asked if she was Indian or just married to one. “As an attorney, you know better!” Your reprimand falls on deaf ears. Bill just shrugged and said, “She’s the one who brought up kids. Let her try and sue us. She’s fat and juries don’t sympathize with fat plaintiffs.”

About a month later, an attorney representing Fred Dunston contacts you. The attorney intends to file a lawsuit in state court. Fred alleges that he was discriminated against in the hiring process, based upon the fact he is a gay black man.

Part A: Assess which, if any, of these candidates is protected against discrimination in the workplace by Title VII or any other laws. List the reasons why he or she is protected. Explain any and all federal and state remedies that might be available to Fred. Make certain to incorporate the findings regarding disparate impact and disparate treatment as set forth in Griggs v. Duke Power and McDonnell Douglas v. Green in your analysis. Although she was hired, include Angela Wharton as well as the other candidates in your assessment.

Part B: Discuss whether you properly and fairly administered the aptitude and typing tests to the candidates involved, including Angela Wharton. Include in your discussion what the law requires employers to do in administering tests and also explain what the U.S. Supreme Court has had to say about skills testing, job-relatedness, and business necessity.

Part C: Discuss whether you properly conducted background checks on all the candidates, including Angela Wharton who was hired. Explain the requirements of the Fair Reporting Credit Act (FRCA) as well as the process of using a third party to conduct background checks.

Part D: Discuss whether Fred’s former HR manager violated any laws by confiding to you that she suspects Fred is gay.

Part E: Discuss whether Angela’s former employer violated any laws by terminating Angela when she was undergoing breast cancer. List the federal and state laws that apply to all the situation.

Part F: Discuss which laws, if any, Bill Bradley violated during the group interview with Martina Smith-Patel.

Part G: Grammar/Mechanics/Format