MSM 6304 – Which of the following are examples of illegal discrimination on the basis of sex
QUESTION 1
Which of the following are examples of illegal discrimination on the basis of sex:
a.A female and a male with equivalent qualifications are hired at the same time to do the same job. The female is paid less than the male.
b.A female and a male with equivalent qualifications apply for the same job, which requires extensive overtime work. The employer doesn’t question either about their willingness to do extensive overtime work but hires the male based on the assumption that males are generally less likely to have problems with extensive overtime than females.
c.A male and a female with equivalent qualifications apply for the job of a fitting room attendant at Helga’s Secret, a women’s clothing store that sells only women’s lingerie and intimate apparel. The store refuses to hire the male because of the privacy concerns of its customers.
d.all of the above
e.a and b only
1 points
QUESTION 2
Which of the following are examples of illegal discrimination on the basis of sex:
a.A female supervisor fires a male employee because he refuses to have a romantic relationship with her.
b.A male and a female are paid based on piece work assembly. Both have the same quota that must be made weekly in order to keep the job. After four weeks, the female has surpassed the quota each week and the male has never completed more than 80%. The male is terminated based on his failure to make the quota.
c.A female and a male with equivalent qualifications apply for the same entry level managerial job. The male is awarded the job because of the employer’s concerns that the female might become pregnant within a couple of year and thus miss a lot of work.
d.all of the above
e.a and c only.
1 points
QUESTION 3
Which of the following are examples of illegal discrimination on the basis of sex? Assume that the men and women have the same jobs.
a.According to the employer’s dress and grooming code, men are required to wear neckties but women are not required to wear ties but must dress in appropriate business attire.
b.According to the employer’s dress and grooming code, women may have hair below their collar but men may not.
c.According to the employer’s dress and grooming code, men must wear suits but women may dress casually.
d.None of the above
e.a and c.
1 points
QUESTION 4
Questions 4 through 9 are intended to help you distinguish when a BFOQ defense is available and when it is not and the difference between the BFOQ defense and the defense that an employment practice is job related and consistent with business necessity. You should review last session’s material covering disparate treatment and disparate impact as well as this session’s material involving BFOQ and the excerpt from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on page 1 of the reading assignment. The BFOQ defense is available only with regard to which characteristics protected by Title VII?
a.race, color, religion, national origin, sex.
b.race, religion, national origin.
c.religion, national origin, sex.
d.color, religion, national origin, sex.
1 points
QUESTION 5
Under what circumstances can business necessity be a defense to a claim of intentional discrimination under Title VII?
a.Whenever the intentional discrimination is based on race, sex or national origin.
b.Whenever the intentional discrimination is based on sex, national origin or religion.
c.Business necessity can never be a defense to intentional discrimination.
1 points
QUESTION 6
What is/are the differences between discrimination that results from a BFOQ and discrimination that results from a criterion that causes a disparate impact because it is job related and consistent with business necessity?
a.A BFOQ can legally discriminate only on the basis gender, religion or national origin.
b.A criterion that causes a disparate impact may permissibly affect any protected characteristic including race.
c.A criterion that causes a disparate impact may permissibly affect any protected characteristic except race.
d.a and b
e.a and c
1 points
QUESTION 7
A male and a female with equivalent qualifications apply for the job of a fitting room attendant at Helga’s Secret, a women’s clothing store that sells only women’s lingerie and intimate apparel. The store refuses to hire the male because of the privacy concerns of its customers. The male ultimately brings a lawsuit against Helga’s Secret. Under these circumstances, which type of discrimination must the male allege he has experienced?
a.disparate treatment
b.disparate impact
1 points
QUESTION 8
A male and a female with equivalent qualifications apply for the job of a fitting room attendant at Helga’s Secret, a women’s clothing store that sells only women’s lingerie and intimate apparel. The store refuses to hire the male because of the privacy concerns of its customers. Assume the male ultimately brings a lawsuit against Helga’s Secret. Which of the following defenses may be appropriately raised by employer?
a.The policy of hiring females only for this position is job related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.
b.The policy of hiring females only for this position is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the operation of the business.
1 points
QUESTION 9
According to the court’s holding in the Diaz case (pp. 154 et seq), which of the following, if any, are predicates for the permissible exercise of sex discrimination in the context of employment?
a.That the particular ability or characteristic sought is necessary to the business and not merely tangential or peripheral.
b.That it is impractical to consider individually or test individually members of the discriminated-against sex to determine whether an individual possesses the ability or characteristic sought.
c.both a and b.
d. None of the above.
1 points
QUESTION 10
Employer refuses to promote employee because of several factors, one of which was discrimination against her because of sexual stereotyping. The other factors included that she was difficult to get along with and was rude to her subordinates and co-workers. If a jury finds that the employer would have still denied her the promotion even if the Employer hadn’t considered the impermissible factor, how, if at all, is her remedy affected?
a.It will not be affected at all.
b.She can be awarded back pay, punitive and compensatory damages, plus attorneys’ fees and given the promotion or front pay.
c.She can be awarded attorneys’ fees and given the promotion or front pay.
d.She can receive legal fees and Employer will be ordered by the court to cease violating Title VII.
e.She can be given the promotion and legal fees, but not money damages.
1 points
QUESTION 11
What is the basic purpose of the Equal Pay Act?
a.It requires that men and women performing substantially equal work be paid equally.
b.It requires that all protected classes under Title VII who perform substantially equally work to be paid equally.
c.It prohibits gender discrimination in pay even when men and women are not performing substantially equal work.
d.All of the above
e.a and c
1 points
QUESTION 12
Which of the following defenses are available to employer in a case brought pursuant to the Equal Pay act?
a.That the pay differentials are due to a bona fide seniority system or a merit pay system.
b.That the pay differentials are due to a productivity based pay system.
c.That the pay differentials result from a factor other than sex.
d.All of the above.
e.a and b.
1 points
QUESTION 13
Does Title VII prohibit intentional gender discrimination in pay even when the male and female employees are not performing substantially equivalent work?
a.Yes
b.No.
1 points
QUESTION 14
Can a plaintiff bring suit under both Title VII and the Equal Pay Act for discrimination in pay that is based on sex?
a.Yes
b.No
1 points
QUESTION 15
Are there cases in which the remedies available under the Equal Pay Act exceed those available under Title VII?
a.Yes
b.No
1 points
QUESTION 16
Plaintiff is a female kindergarten teacher at a small private Christian academy. She has a Master’s degree in her teaching field, has taught fifteen years at the school and has been selected as Teacher of the Year five different times over the years. Male head football coach at the academy has four years of coaching experience, only two of which were with the academy, does not have a Master’s degree, and has had two losing seasons. He is a former quarterback, a Division 1 All American and led his team to the SEC championship six years ago. Football coach makes $25,000 per year more than Plaintiff. Plaintiff brings an action alleging gender discrimination on the theory that her job is at least as important as that of a football coach and that she should therefore be paid as much. Is she entitled to relief under either Title VII or the Equal Pay Act?
a.Yes, she is entitled to relief under the Equal Pay Act.
b.Yes, she is entitled to relief under Title VII.
c.both a and c
dNo, she is not entitled to relief under either Title VII or the Equal Pay Act.
1 points
QUESTION 17
Employer had an opening in a sales job that covers a large territory and required extensive travel by car and thus required some 55—65 hours per week. Its position announcements included the requirements for the job. Employer had both male and female applicants and granted interviews to the top five, four of whom were male and one of whom was female. Prior to the interviews, the female had been rated as the leading candidate. During the interviews, Employer asked each applicant about his or her availability to do the travel and put in the time required by the job. The female responded that she had two children of elementary school age that she was home-schooling and so could not spend that much time at the job, especially traveling, but that she could comfortably commit to 40 to 45 hours per week. When asked why she applied for the job when she was not willing to work the hours required, she responded that she felt that much of the travel was unnecessary and that many matters could be taken care of by phone, by e-mail and by texting. Because of her answers to these two questions, she was eliminated from consideration for the job. An unmarried male with no children with less sales experience was awarded the position because he said he could and would do all the traveling and work all the hours required by the job. Has employer violated Title VII’s prohibitions against sex discrimination?
a.Yes, employer has engaged in disparate treatment.
b.Yes, employer’s hiring practices will impermissibly cause a disparate impact on females, who are more likely to home-school their children than are males.
c.Both a and b.
d.No.
1 points
QUESTION 18
Assume the same facts as #17 above. Plaintiff ultimately commences a civil action against employer for sex discrimination. Her complaint alleges that she is a female, that she applied for a job for which she was qualified, that she was not hired and that the job was awarded to a male who had the same or lesser qualifications. Are Plaintiff’s allegations sufficient to create a prima facie case of discrimination to which Defendant must respond?
a.Yes.
b.No.
1 points
QUESTION 19
Assume the same facts as #17 and #18 above. How should employer respond to Plaintiff’s allegations?
a.It should assert that Plaintiff is not qualified for the job because her refusal to work the hours required means she fails to have one of the essential qualifications required by the job.
b.It should assert that the ability to work 55-65 hours per week is a bona fide occupational qualification for the job.
c.It should assert that the ability to work 55-65 hours per week is job related and consistent with business necessity.
d.a and b
e.a and c
1 points
QUESTION 20
Assume the same facts as #17 and #18 above. How, if at all, can Plaintiff respond to Employer’s assertion that Plaintiff’s unwillingness to work the hours required for the job is a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for not hiring her?
a.She can assert that the requirement is pretextual.
b.She can assert that the requirement will have an adverse impact on women with small children or women who home-school their children.
c.a and b.
1 points
QUESTION 21
Assume the same facts as #17 and #18 above. Assume further that Employer files a motion for summary judgment asserting that Plaintiff’s unwillingness to work the required hours establish a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for not hiring her and that Plaintiff in turn asserts that Employer’s proffered defense is pretextual. If Plaintiff submits no evidence supporting her proposition that the work hours requirement is pretextual, will Defendant’s motion for summary judgment be granted?
a.No because Plaintiff’s assertion of pretext is sufficient to show that there is a material issue of fact that must be resolved by a jury.
b.Yes because Plaintiff’s assertion of pretext is insufficient to show that there is a material issue of fact that must be resolved by a jury.
1 points
QUESTION 22
Assume the same facts as #17, #18 and #21. Assume that Employer’s Motion for Summary Judgment is granted. How does this affect the case?
a.Employer has won the case and the matter is concluded.
b.Employee will still get a chance to have a jury hear the case and decide whether they believe she was the victim of illegal discrimination.
1 points
QUESTION 23
Assume the same facts as #17 and #18 above. Assume that Employer files a motion for summary judgment asserting that Plaintiff’s unwillingness to work the required hours establishes a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for not hiring her and that Plaintiff in turns asserts that Employer’s proffered defense is pretextual. Assume that Plaintiff supports her claim of pretext with an affidavit from the secretary of one of the men who interviewed her in which she swears that she overheard her boss say to another one of the interviewers, I don’t care whether [Plaintiff] says she can work the required number of hours or not—the last time we had a b*tch in a sales position, she gave us nothing but trouble. Will Employer’s motion for summary judgment be granted?
a.Yes, because even if the secretary’s allegations are true, they still don’t establish that the Plaintiff was not hired because she was a woman and not because she was unwilling to work the amount of hours required.
b.No, because the secretary’s allegations are sufficient to create an issue of fact as to whether the Plaintiff’s gender was impermissibly considered in the decision not to hire her.
c.Yes, because even if the secretary’s allegations are true, Employer still had a valid reason for not hiring Plaintiff: she was not willing to work the number of hours required by the position.
d.a and c.
1 points
QUESTION 24
Assume the same facts as #17, #18 and #23. Assume that Employer’s Motion for Summary Judgment is denied. How does this affect the case?
a.Employer has lost the case and is thus liable for illegal discrimination.
b.Employer has not lost the case but the matter will now be heard by a jury to determine to whether Employer has illegally discriminated against Plaintiff.
1 points
QUESTION 25
Assume the same facts as #17, #18 and #23. A jury determines that Plaintiff was not hired because of her sex and because of her unwillingness to work the specified hours. How, if at all, does this affect the remedy that can be awarded to Plaintiff?
a.Plaintiff’s remedy will not be affected at all.
b.Plaintiff’s remedy will be limited to an award of attorney’s fees and a court order to the employer to cease illegally discriminating.
