Key EEO Cases
Kenneth M. York
School of Business Administration
Oakland University
Griggs v. Duke Power (1971)

Facts of the case
 Blacks
in one department only, lowest paying
 Whites in other departments
 After CRA64 company started new promotion
system, to get promoted:
High school diploma
 Pass Wonderlic and Bennett Mechanical Aptitude
Test

ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Griggs v. Duke Power (1971)

Supreme Court ruling
 Employer
violated Title VII because neither
the tests nor the high school diploma were
shown to be job related, and both
requirements had adverse impact on blacks

White employees promoted before the new
promotion system were satisfactory performers
 There
was evidence of past discrimination,
new promotion system did not change that
ORG434: Advanced HRM
3
Albemarle Paper Company v.
Moody (1975)

Facts of the case
 Blacks
in one department only, lowest paying
 Whites in other departments
 Company reorganized itself in 1968, to get promoted:


High school diploma
Pass Wonderlic and Revised Beta
 Company
did a validation study, using concurrent test
validation strategy

Almost all who took the tests were white
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Albemarle Paper Company v.
Moody (1975)

Supreme Court ruling
 Judicial
remedy is to make injured parties
whole, backpay is appropriate remedy
 If employer shows the tests with adverse
impact are job-related, plaintiff must show
another selection device would serve the
employer’s interest without adverse impact
 Validation study was inadequate
ORG434: Advanced HRM
5
Hazelwood v. U.S. (1977)

Facts of the case
 Hazelwood
is a rural Missouri school district
 School principal had unlimited discretion in
hiring teachers
 Complaint is discrimination in hiring teachers
15.4% of area teachers were black
 1.8% of Hazelwood teachers were black
 2.0% of Hazelwood students were black

ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Hazelwood v. U.S. (1977)

Supreme Court ruling
 The
proper statistical comparison is between
the racial composition of Hazelwood’s
teaching staff and qualified public school
teacher population in the relevant labor
market, not the student population
 Statistical disparity between qualified black
teachers in labormarket and Hazelwood staff
is prima facie case of race discrimination
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Connecticut v. Teal (1982)

Facts of the case
 To
get promoted to Welfare Eligibility Supervisor, must
pass a test


54% of Blacks passed, 80% of Whites passed
AIR=.54/.80=.68
 But
test was one part of multi-part selection process,
actually promoted


23.9% of Blacks promoted, 13.5% of Whites promoted
Bottom line favored Blacks
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Connecticut v. Teal (1982)

Supreme Court ruling
 Bottom
line is not a defense, if one component of a
multi-part selection process has adverse impact, the
process has adverse impact
 Any test that has discriminatory impact violates
CRA64
 Title VII does not permit a victim of a discriminatory
policy to be told that he has not been wronged
because other people of his race or sex were hired
 Most confusing case
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Coleman v. Wayne State University
(1987)

The facts of the case
 Black
full professor at WSU College of Nursing
claimed race discrimination in pay, sought backpay
 Salary was consistently lower than white full
professors 1978-1985
 To demonstrate adverse impact, must show


Discriminated against because of her race, and
Individually suffered as part of a pattern or practice that
affected other Blacks in the College
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Coleman v. Wayne State University
(1987)

Binomial test (z-test)



Shows salary more than 2 SD’s less than mean full professor’s
salary in 1978, 1983, 1984, 1986
Judgment shows judge relied heavily on this analysis
Partial correlations


Race and salary should not be correlated
Partial out other variables know to be related to salary






Year-hired—salary compression
Rank—full paid more than associate, associate more than assistant
Year—inflation
Salary & race across all ranks, r = .10, p=.05
Salary & race, partial out year-hired, rank, year, r = .20, p = .001
Salary & race, partial year, year hired, full professors only, r = .54, p =
.01
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Coleman v. Wayne State University
(1987)

District Court ruling
 The
discrepancy in salary was based upon
illegal discriminatory criteria
 Unbelievable that a person with her academic
record would be paid so much less than her
peers
 McArthur awarded salary equal to average
salary for white full professors, across all the
years (about $150,000 plus benefits)
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Johnson v. Transportation Agency,
Santa Clara City, California (1987)

Facts of the case


In 1978 SCCTA created an Affirmative Action Plan to get more
women in skilled crafts, road dispatcher, and other jobs
In 1979, a vacancy for Road Dispatcher brought 12 applicants, 9
were qualified and interviewed, 7 got second interview, scores






Unidentified male=80
Johnson=75
Unidentified male=74
Joyce=73
Panel of SCCTA supervisors recommended…Johnson
County coordinator for Affirmative Action promoted Joyce
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Johnson v. Transportation Agency,
Santa Clara City, California (1987)

Supreme Court ruling
 SCCTA’s AAP
is a moderate, flexible, caseby-case approach to gradually improving the
representation of minorities and women in
their workforce in underrepresented jobs
 Sex can be considered as one factor in
judging among qualified applicants
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Johnson v. Transportation Agency,
Santa Clara City, California (1987)
 The
Road Dispatcher job required a minimum
of 4 years of dispatch or road maintenance
work experience for Santa Clara County
Joyce worked as road maintenance worker for
Santa Clara County 1975-1979
 Johnson worked as road maintenance worker for
Santa Clara County 1977-1979
 Joyce applied for road dispatcher position in 1974
but was considered ineligible

ORG434: Advanced HRM
15
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins
(1989)

Facts of the case
 Hopkins
was a senior manager, got $25 million
contract with Department of State, brought in $40
million in new business, more than any other
candidate for partnership
 Was proposed for partnership in 1982 (only woman),
put on hold for reconsideration following year

622 partners, 7 women
 Was
not re-proposed for partnership in 1983, Hopkins
resigned
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins
(1989)

Supreme Court ruling
 There
were mixed motives for denying partnership,
legitimate and illegitimate
 Clients praised her, staff said she lacked interpersonal
skills
 Some partners reacted negatively to her, judgments
influenced by sex stereotyping
 Awarded partnership at Price Waterhouse, and
$350,000 in back pay
ORG434: Advanced HRM
17
Harmer v. Virginia Electric & Power
Co. (1993)

Facts of the case
 Harmer
suffered from bronchial asthma,
aggravated by tobacco smoke from nearby
workers, requested VE&P eliminate smokefilled air in his working environment
 VP&E took various steps, virtual ban on
smoking in all its facilities
 Harmer sued under ADA for an injunction
against all smoking
ORG434: Advanced HRM
18
Harmer v. Virginia Electric & Power
Co. (1993)

District Court ruling
 ADA protects
Harmer from discrimination due
to his disability
 But not entitled to a complete smoking ban as
a reasonable accommodation to his disability,
not entitled to absolute accommodation
ORG434: Advanced HRM
19
EEOC v. Liggett & Meyers, Inc.
(1982)

Facts of the case
 After
Gfeller was appointed director of sales,
the company began an intensive program of
personnel changes
 All of the region managers were over 40 years
old, all replaced by younger people
Gardiner (46) was told he was “too old for the job”
 D’Erasmo (27) was “just the type of young man
needed”

ORG434: Advanced HRM
20
EEOC v. Liggett & Meyers, Inc.
(1982)

District Court ruling
 Overwhelming
evidence of discriminatory
attitude on age
 Although other factors may have been
considered, age was one of the determining
factors
 The violations of the company were willful

Double damages to more than 100 employees
ORG434: Advanced HRM
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