Fall Semester - 1995

Professor Iijima

Sample Examination Questions

Question # 1

Mitchell Carter is an African American police officer with the Minneapolis police department. The Department has approximately 800 officers, 10% of whom are women, and 8% of whom are persons of color. The officers are not members of a union.

Officer Carter has been employed by the Department for 6 years, and has a good work record.

Last May, Officer Carter reported to the Internal Affairs office of the Department that a white officer physically abused a handcuffed African American prisoner in the department's booking room. That officer was disciplined and left the department. Following that incident, Officer Carter has received anonymous harassing notes claiming that he is a traitor. Some of the notes have made racist remarks. Officer Carter also noticed that the other officers are slow to back him up when he needs assistance on patrol. Officer Carter filed complaints with his supervisor about the notes and slow backup. The Department issued a memo informing all personnel that it would not tolerate such activities. The notes continued to appear, and Officer Carter still believes the other officers are not backing him up. Officer Carter continued to inform his supervisor about the problems. To date, the Department has taken no further action.

Last week, Officer Carter's supervisor, Captain Smith, warned him that police work is a job where camaraderie and esprit de corps count almost as much as skills at the pistol range or in the patrol car. Captain Smith told Officer Carter that Officer Carter had a reputation as being too aggressive and "macho" in making traffic stops, and as not being a good "team player." Captain Smith then temporarily reassigned him from his patrol duties to office work. Captain Smith told Officer Carter that the reassignment was for Officer Carter's safety. Although Officer Carter will receive the same pay and benefits, he preferred patrol work.

Determine whether or not Officer Carter has any viable causes of action against the police department for employment discrimination, and explain your answer. Disregard any statute of limitations issues. Disregard any claims against the State itself. (Your analysis is more important than the specific result you reach.)

Question # 2

Last June, Jane Roe, a graduating law school student, saw a job notice posted on her law school's placement office bulletin board. The notice stated that Badger & Hackle, a 100-lawyer firm in St. Paul, was looking for two associates. One associate would work in its corporate department, and the other associate would work in its employment benefits department. Badger & Hackle required all its associates to bill 1,800 hours/year, and paid an annual starting salary of $45,000. Jane applied for the position in the corporate department. The law firm rejected her for that position, but offered her the employment benefits position. Jane accepted the offer.

One week later, Badger & Hackle hired John Doe for the corporate position. Jane knew that John's background was very similar to hers, including grade point average, extracurricular activities, and work experience. When she inquired about the basis for the law firm's decision to hire John instead of her, she was told that John would be better able to establish and maintain strong relationships with the business community. She did a "head count" and determined that only 1 of the 30 lawyers in the corporate department was a women. In the rest of the firm, 20% of the lawyers were women.

Jane and John began work in August, 1990. Last week, with their pay checks, they received year-end bonuses. Most of the lawyers in the employment benefits department, including Jane, received a bonus of $100. Most of the lawyers in the corporate department, including John, received a bonus of $1,000.

Determine whether or not Jane has any viable causes of action for employment discrimination, and explain your answer. Disregard any statute of limitations issues. (Your analysis is more important than the specific result you reach.)