Question

What are John’s potential claims if he is terminated this week?

John is a 54-year-old man with diabetes. He has worked for Telco for 20 years. Lately, he has difficulty concentrating and makes numerous mistakes. He has missed several days of work due to his diabetes. Supervisor Mark wants to fire John this week.

a) Set forth the federal statute and/or theories of law that are applicable.
b) Identify the legal issue(s) that exist and claims that may be brought based on the facts of the case.
c) Apply the facts of the case to the elements of the law/theories of law.
d) Cite a case in the text which is on point with the scenario, or compare and contrast with a case in the text.
e) Provide an action item agenda of specific objectives you would recommend implementing in order to prevent future exposure to liability. Be specific (e.g., if training is a recommendation, describe the type of training in detail).

Answer 1

Answering the first 4 questions as per Chegg Guidelines:

a) The federal statute which is applicable is Title VII of Civil Rights Act. Title VII of Civil Rights Act, 1964 plays a very important role in the workplace harassment or discrimination cases. Any kind of discrimination from employer on any kind of bias like sex, race, religion, sect, etc. is strictly prohibited under this Title. This serves as the basis for providing equal employment opportunities to all.

b) The primary legal issue in this case is of discrimination. John is being discriminated by his Supervisor Mark as he has become old and is ill.

The primary claim that Mark can make in his defense is that he made the decision of firing John based on the performance issues. John was making a lot of mistakes. His concentration has also gone low with age. Moreover he was high on absenteeism. Hence Mark had to take this hard step of firing him.

c) John is a 54-year old man, suffering from diabetes. Because of his ailment, he had to miss various workdays at the office. This had irked the supervisor and he decided to fire him. The supervisor is clearly discriminating John on his age and ailments. Mark is clearly violating the terms of Title VII of Civil Rights Act.

d) Griggs v Duke Power is a landmark case based on employment discrimination. There was disparate impact discrimination associated with the case. Disparate impact discrimination is the unintentional discrimination. Here the policies of the company are hideous and unintentionally based on discrimination of a protected group. The company Duke Power was using arbitrary tests for evaluating the performance of their employees, which in turn racially discriminated against the black employees of the company. : Title VII of Civil Rights Act, 1964 plays a very important role in the workplace harassment or discrimination cases. Any kind of discrimination from employer on any kind of bias like sex, race, religion, sect, etc. is strictly prohibited under this Title. This serves as the basis for providing equal employment opportunities to all.

Albemarle v. Moody is another case based on racial discrimination in employment. The current and past employees of the company, Albermarle Paper Co. were subjected to racial discrimination in the hiring as well as promotional practices of the company. As per Title VII and EEOC, The company was held responsible for denying equal employment opportunities to the employees.