1 The concept of legal precedent can mean a lower courts are bound by higher court decisions a Appellate Division 2 In the New Jersey state court system the intermediate mid level court is 3 An employee at will may be terminated a for any reason or no reason at all 4 In Woolley v Hoffman LaRoche the N J Supreme Court found an implied contract based on a a personnel policy manual employee handbook 5 If an employer wants to insure that a personnel manual will not be deemed an implied employment contract it must a include a clear and prominent disclaimer 6 In Pierce v Ortho Pharmaceutical the New Jersey Supreme Court recognized the following exception to employment at will a public policy exception 7 An EEOC charge of discrimination must be filed within a 180 300 days 8 In order to sue under Title VII in court a complainant must first obtain from the EEOC 9 In a typical employment law civil court case the burden of proof is placed on the a a right to sue letter a plaintiff under the preponderance of evidence standard A losing defendant employer in a Title VII case may be ordered to provide which of the following remedies a pay the plaintiff s legal fees and costs In Pierce v Ortho Pharmaceutical the plaintiff pharmaceutical doctor a lost her case based on the facts presented In McDonnell Douglas v Green the plaintiff sued because a his employment application was rejected 13 Which of the following is a ground of discrimination under Title VII employer s a religion In Griggs v Duke Power involving disparate impact the plaintiffs challenged the a requirement of HS degree and standardized testing The two primary types of sexual harassment are a quid pro quo and hostile work environment In most employment lawsuits after discovery has concluded the employer defendant will take which of the following actions a File a motion for summary judgements To successfully defend against a claim of disparate impact employment discrimination the defendant employer must show that a the challenged policy or practice is truly job related In federal court trials are held in a District Court 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 A public employer may lose first Amendment protection by making knowingly false 20 21 A punitive damage award is available when the employer acts in a malicious manner A plaintiff may show that an employer s alleged nondiscriminatory reason is merely statements pretextual Essay Question How can a female plaintiff establish a sexual harassment claim under the standards set forth in Lehman v Toys R Us Under what circumstances will an employer be liable for a supervisor s sexual harassment How can an employer attempt to limit its exposure to liability Difference between the disparate treatment and disparate impact and give examples Disparate Treatment In a disparate treatment case the employee is claiming that the employer treated her differently than other employees who were in a similar situation For example both Jane and Paul skip work one day the employer fires Jane but does not fire Paul If the reason is because Jane is female then this is disparate treatment because of sex which would violate Title VII If the real reason is because Jane had a worse attendance record then it could be disparate treatment because of differences in attendance and therefore lawful Disparate Impact In a disparate impact case the claim is that the employer has a practice that has a much bigger impact on one group than on another For example the employer won t hire janitors unless they are high school graduates This might have a much bigger impact on blacks as a whole than on whites as a whole I ll discuss this theory in detail in a later lesson In the typical disparate treatment case the central issue will be whether Jane was treated differently because she was female or because of her attendance record The because or why will be crucial Courts have developed some interesting methods for proving and disproving why Jane was fired Describe how a plaintiff can establish a prima facie or threshold case of employment discrimination under the McDonnell Douglas test A plaintiff can establish a prima facie case of race discrimination under Title VII by establishing that 1 he or she belongs to a racial minority 2 he or she applied and was qualified for a job for which the employer was seeking applicants 3 he or she was rejected for the position despite his or her qualifications and 4 the position remained open after his or her rejection and the employer continued to seek applications from other people with similar qualifications to the plaintiff Describe wt the employer and plaintiff must show thereafter under that test After the plaintiff has established a prima facie case the burden of production shifts to the employer to articulate a legitimate non discriminatory reason for the plaintiff s rejection Id If the employer sustains the burden the plaintiff then has the opportunity to present evidence showing that the employer s stated reason for the rejection was merely pretextual Wt remedies are available under the title 7 for a prevailing plaintiff With respect to compensatory damages describe wt types of evidence you would use to build a strong case at trial ECONOMICAL PUNITIVE COMPENSATIVE FRONT PAY BACK PAY REINSTATEMENT INJUCTION DEFENDANT MAY HAVE TO PAY FEES AND COSTS FOR Building a strong trial direct evidences and witnesses are needed