Complete Test Bank – Ch.4 – Unintentional Discrimination

Test Bank

Chapter 4

Unintentional Discrimination: Disparate Impact

True/False

1. No single statute or court decision has affected HR selection as much as disparate impact.

2. Adverse impact is the same as disparate treatment.

3. Job-related is the same as business necessity.

4. Since the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, complaining parties must link statistical disparities to the specific practices or procedures claimed to have caused the disparities.

5. In the Griggs case, the test scores caused African Americans to be rejected at a rate that was almost ten times greater than the rejection rate of Whites.

6. There is only one accepted way to establish statistical imbalances.

7. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 requires that each stage of the selection process be examined separately when investigating disparate treatment.

8. Favorable hiring for the group suffering the disparate impact at the end of the selection process will absolve the employer if disparity occurs in one stage of the selection process.

9. When disparate impact is investigated on the basis of race, the male and female rates for each racial group are combined.

10. Generally, the more standard deviations that there are from the expected representation, the lower the probability that the actual pass rate is a random one.

11. There is more than one way to calculate standard deviations for disparate impact analysis purposes.

12. Bottom-line statistics can be used as a defense for disparate impact.

13. Both case law and the Civil Rights Act of 1991 severely limit the use of bottom-line statistics.

14. If only one stage in a multiple-stage selection process causes adverse impact, a complaint can be made.

15. Looking at the sample size is not a good way to challenge statistics.

16. The general convention is that correlational studies require at least thirty subjects to establish significance.

17. The respondent may attempt to challenge the complaining party’s statistics by offering countervailing evidence.

18. Stock analysis is not a measure of representativeness.

19. Prior to 2005, the federal circuit courts were divided as to whether disparate impact was actionable under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

20. In Jones v Pepsi-Cola Metro. Bottling Co., the employer was able to establish the business necessity/job-relatedness defense.

Multiple Choice

1. Until ______ disparate treatment was the only actionable Title VII violation.

A. 1991

B. 1971

C. 1964

D. 1984

2. Employers avoid which actionable Title VII violation by proving the action was based on a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason and not on a pretext?

A. adverse impact

B. disparate treatment

C. disparate impact

D. retaliation

3. With the advent of disparate impact, organizations became preoccupied with achieving __________ in hiring and promotions.

A. more female workers

B. more African American employees

C. the right numbers

D. the best candidates

4. The second theory of discrimination is:

A. adverse impact

B. disparate treatment

C. population comparisons

D. legitimate nondiscrimination

5. Disparate impact is an expression of __________ view of equal employment opportunity.

A. the legislature’s

B. the 1896 Supreme Court’s

C. the group rights view

D. the individual view

6. Which court case resulted in the creation of disparate impact?

A. Brown v. Topeka Board of Education

B. McDonald v. Santa Fe Transportation Company

C. Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

D. Griggs v. Duke Power Company

7. In disparate impact, it is __________ whether the employer intended to discriminate or not.

A. immaterial

B. germane

C. important

D. none of the above

8. The Grigg’s case established disparate impact based on:

A. race

B. religion

C. sex

D. national origin

9. Which of the following is used to establish a prima facie case under disparate impact?

A. show that a similarly situated employee from a different class was treated differently than a protected class member

B. offer statistical proof that an employment practice contributed to the exclusion of a protected class

C. show that an employer intentionally discriminated against a member of a protected class

D. none of the above

10. In the Grigg’s case, the diploma requirement excluded nearly ____ times as many African Americans as Whites.

A. twelve

B. five

C. three

D. ten

11. Where an actionable statistical imbalance begins would not be settled until seven years after the Griggs decision, and the most popular method for these determinations would be developed by:

A. the legislature

B. a regulatory agency

C. the courts

D. the President of the United States

12. Which of the following is not one of the selection criteria known to have disparate impact on certain protected groups?

A. education requirements

B. credit checks

C. arrest records

D. drug tests

13. Which of the following is not one of the common statistical methods used to show adverse impact?

A. regression theory

B. 95 percent confidence interval

C. two to three standard deviations

D. four-fifths rule

14. When using the four-fifths rule, the group with the highest rate is called the:

A. smallest group

B. benchmark group

C. largest group

D. protected class group

15. A finding of disparate impact in any of the stages used by a company in employment selection will be sufficient to establish:

A. a prima facie case

B. a motive

C. intentional discrimination

D. retaliation

16. __________ examines the effect of the questioned selection criterion only on the actual candidates who applied for the position.

A. stock analysis

B. countervailing statistics

C. bottom-line statistics

D. applicant flow analysis

17. Finish the formula for the four-fifths rule:

(Selection Rate of the Protected Class) ____ 0.8 (Selection Rate of Group with the Highest Rate)

A. greater than or equal to

B. less than or equal to

C. less than

D. greater than

18. Which is not a fact about disparate impact?

A. Statistical imbalances by themselves are not unlawful

B. It is intentional

C. disparity, of and by itself, does not establish a Title VII violation

D. the prima facie case is established by a statistical imbalance at any stage of the selection process

19. The standard deviation method says that standard deviations are a measure of the probability that a result is a ______ deviation from an expected representation.

A. precise

B. calculated

C. deliberate

D. random

20. Generally federal courts have held that a _____ level of significance is indicative that an investigated disparity occurred strictly by chance in disparate impact cases.

A. 0.005

B. 0.05

C. 0.5

D. 0.55

21. In the commonly used calculation for statistical deviations found in the textbook, the z score equals:

A. (E + A) + SD

B. (A – E) ÷ SD

C. (E – A) + SD

D. (E + A) ÷ SD

22. The following defines which answer choice?

“The selection rates of protected class members at the conclusion of the selection process.”

A. stock analysis

B. countervailing statistics

C. bottom-line statistics

D. applicant flow analysis

23. Employers should not consider __________ when they challenge the complaining party’s statistics.

A. bottom-line statistics

B. small sample sizes

C. relevant labor markets

D. countervailing statistics

24. “Hiring by the numbers” is:

A. an example of disparate treatment

B. an acceptable employment practice

C. legal but frowned upon

D. a violation of Title VII

25. In the course of a disparate impact investigation, if the employer discerns problems or deficiencies in the data offered by the plaintiff, the employer may submit:

A. stock analysis

B. countervailing statistics

C. bottom-line statistics

D. applicant flow analysis

26. __________ provides statistics on the composition of the employer’s workforce and how that workforce compares to its relevant labor market.

A. Stock analysis

B. Countervailing statistics

C. Bottom-line statistics

D. Applicant flow analysis

27. In order to be accurate, stock analysis begins with properly identifying:

A. the complaining party

B. the protected class

C. the relevant labor market

D. countervailing statistics

28. Where could an employer find relevant labor market information?

A. Federal Bureau of Investigation

B. Homeland Security website

C. Bureau of Labor Statistics

D. Census Bureau

29. In _____, the Supreme Court ruled that individuals can establish an actionable case of age discrimination by showing that certain facially neutral practices have the effect of excluding older employees/applicants.

A. 1995

B. 2000

C. 2009

D. 2005

30. Under the ______, the employer’s defense for disparate impact is legitimate nondiscriminatory reason and not business necessity/job-relatedness as it is under Title VII.

A. OFCCP

B. ADEA

C. OSHA

D. NLRB

Essay

1. What is the main difference between disparate impact and disparate treatment? What are the necessary proofs to establish a prima facie case under disparate impact?

Disparate impact is unintentional workforce discrimination and disparate treatment is intentional discrimination based on protected class status.

Prima Facie Case: A facially neutral employment practice has an adverse impact on a protected class (invariably demonstrated by a manifest statistical imbalance)

Respondent’s Rebuttal: The challenged employment practice is shown to be a business necessity (it is job related) Challenge the complaining party’s statistics

Complaining Party’s Rebuttal: There are other practices that would accomplish the same end but have less adverse impact on the protected class

Page: 95 (see figure 4.1)

1. Discuss the common statistical methods introduced in the chapter to establish disparate impact.

The four-fifths rule is the most common method and was first developed by the EEOC in its 1978 Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. Disparate impact is assumed anytime the selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group is less than four-fifths (80 percent) of the rate for the group with the highest rate. An employment practice may have violated Title VII if there is statistical significance between the expected result and the actual result by two or three standard deviations or when the selection rate for a protected class falls outside of a 95 percent confidence interval.

Page: 96 (see figure 4.3)

3. Explain disparate impact as related to age discrimination. What is the difference in the employer’s defense for disparate impact under the ADEA versus Title VII?

Facially neutral employment practices which exclude a disproportionate number of 40 years and older applicants or employees create disparate impact under the ADEA. Under the ADEA, the employer’s defense for disparate impact is a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason and not business necessity/job-relatedness as it is under Title VII.

Page: 112