Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter
3
The Legal Environment: Equal
Employment Opportunity and
Safety
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Identify the three branches of government and the role each plays in
influencing the legal environment of human resource management.
List the major federal laws that require equal employment opportunity
and the protections provided by each of these laws.
Discuss the roles, responsibilities, and requirements of the federal
agencies responsible for enforcing equal employment opportunity laws.
Identify the four theories of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act and apply these theories to different discrimination situations.
Chapter
3
The Legal Environment: Equal
Employment Opportunity and
Safety
Identify behavior that constitutes sexual harassment and list
things that an organization can do to eliminate or minimize it.
Discuss the legal issues involved with preferential treatment
programs.
Identify the major provisions of the Occupational Safety and
Health Act (1970) and the rights of employees that are
guaranteed by this act.
The Legal System in the United
States
Legislative Branch
Three
Branches
The Legal System in the United
States
The legislative branch of the federal government consists of
the House of Representatives and the Senate. These bodies
enact laws that govern many HR activities.
The executive branch consists of the president of the United
Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Issuing guidelines
Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs
Three components:
The utilization analysis compares the race, sex, and ethnic
composition of the employer's work force with that of the
available labor supply.
The employer must develop specific goals and timetables for
achieving balance in the workforce. They specify the
percentage of women and minorities that an employer seeks,
and the date by which that percentage is to be attained.
Employers must develop a list of action steps, which are the
written affirmative plan that specifies what an employer plans
to do to reduce underutilization of protected groups.
The OFCCP annually audits government contractors.
Types of Discrimination
Disparate Disparate Reasonable
Treatment Impact Accomodation
- Show intent? - yes - no - yes
- Prima facie - member of - statistical disparity - failure to be
case accomodated
protected group
- Employers - show job - job relatedness and
defense - show BFOQ
relatedness business necessity
- Plaintiffs - reason a pretext - other ways exist
rebuttal
- Damages - compensatory/ - compensatory/
punitive - equitable relief
punitive
- Key litigation - McDonnell Douglas
v. Green - Griggs v. Duke - Walmart
Hopkins v. Price Power
Waterhouse Wards Cove v.
Atonio
Disparate Treatment
Disparate treatment exists when
individuals in similar situations are
treated differently based upon race,
color, religion, sex, national origin,
age, or disability status.
Bona fide occupational qualifications
(BFOQ) - A characteristic that is
necessary, rather than preferred, for a
job.
McDonnell Douglas Corp v. Green
Disparate Impact
Disparate impact occurs when a facially neutral
employment practice disproportionately excludes a
protected group from employment opportunities.
Four-fifths rule - a test has disparate impact if the hiring
rate for the minority group is less than four-fifths (80
percent) of the hiring rate for the majority group.
Standard deviation rule - uses actual probability
distributions to determine adverse impact.
Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Antonio
Sexual Harassment
Outcomes of Americans
with Disabilities Act
Sexual Harassment
Sexualharassment refers to unwanted sexual
advances.
Quid pro quo harassment occurs when some type of
benefit or punishment is made contingent upon the
employee submitting to sexual advances.
Bundy v. Jackson
A hostile working environment occurs when someone's
behavior in the workplace creates an environment that
makes it difficult for someone of a particular sex to
work.
Ron Clark Ford of Amarillo, TX, and Babies R Us
Sexual Harassment
Three critical conditions for Sexual Harassment
cases:
The plaintiff cannot have "invited or incited" the advances
Harassment must have been severe