Legal and Ethical Issues in Human Resource Management Assignment

This document presents a solution to a Human Resource Management (HRM) assignment, addressing legal and ethical issues in the workplace. The assignment is divided into two parts: the first part requires matching employment laws and statutes with their descriptions and requirements, covering key legislation such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Age Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The second part applies these laws to workplace scenarios, including case studies like Griggs v. Duke Power and various hypothetical situations involving discrimination, equal pay, age discrimination, disability accommodations, sexual harassment, family leave, and pregnancy discrimination. The solution provides detailed explanations and applications of each law to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

Running Head: Human Resource Management 1
Legal and Ethical Issues in Human Resource Management
Student
Institution
Date

Human Resource Management 2
Part 1: Description and Requirement of Law
1. Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act: This Act is an amended version of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. This act protects persons from discrimination of any type within the
workplace.
2. Equal Employment Opportunity Act: This Act requires employers to offer equal
employment opportunity to applicants and employees regardless of color, religion, race,
gender, national origin, marital status, or any other status.
3. Equal Pay Act of 1963: This Act prohibits companies to discriminate against any
persons with wages. More so, the company must pay all employees who perform on the
same level the same amount regardless of any status such as gender.
4. Age Discrimination Act of 1967: This Act protects persons over the age of 40.
Companies cannot terminate or force an employee to perform “light” duty because of his
or her age. However, companies can set age restrictions for certain jobs because of job
requirements.
5. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 & ADA Amendments Act of 2008: This Act
protects persons from discrimination based on disability. This act was added to the
Rehabilitation Act to protect persons in the private sector, and to protect persons from
employment denial based on their disability.
6. Civil Rights Act of 1991: This Act protects persons the same as the 1964 Act against
discrimination regardless of color, religion, race, gender, national origin, marital status,
or any other status, and allows the person to sue the company for monetary damages if he
or she is discriminated against due to any of these factors.

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7. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993: This act protects persons from
termination due to pregnancy, adoption, serious health condition of the employee or
family, or military leave. The employee is entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-
month period.
8. Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (1994: Under this
Act, employers are generally required, among other things, to reinstate employees
returning from military leave to positions comparable to those they had before leaving.
9. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978: This Act prohibits using pregnancy, childbirth,
and related medical conditions for discrimination in hiring, promotion, discharge, or any
other term or condition of employment.
Part 2: Workplace Application
1. Question: Griggs v. Duke Power: In this case, a suit was brought against the Duke Power
Company on behalf of Willie Griggs, an applicant for a job as a coal handler. The
company required its coal handlers to be high school graduates. Griggs claimed that this
requirement was illegally discriminatory because it wasn’t related to success on the job
and because it resulted in more blacks than whites being rejected for these jobs.
Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act
2. Question: Bob, manager of a local hardware store, has two employees up for promotion
to assistant manager: John and Joan. He chooses John because he thinks a male would do
a better job and not have as many issues, never taking a look at the relevant qualifications
of either one.
Equal Employment Opportunity Act

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3. Question: Jane was recently promoted to bank manager after five years of service but
was upset that she didn't get a raise or a bonus, especially since Tom who was bank
manager before her made more than she did. When she was bypassed for a raise and a
bonus again, she went to her boss and eventually human resources to raise her concerns
that they were violating the law.
Equal Pay Act of 1963
4. Question: A local car parts supplier fired 64-year-old Dan for allegedly stealing pencils.
Later it was revealed that a senior manager had told Dan’s manager to “take a closer look
at the older people” and “write them up and get rid of them.”
Age Discrimination Act of 1967
5. Question: A student is enrolling in the university in his town and during the process
declares that he has issues seeing properly. Knowing this information, the university must
provide him reasonable accommodations throughout his time at the university.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 & ADA Amendments Act of 2008
6. Question: Pollard v. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company: Sharon Pollard sued her
former employer, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont), alleging that she had
been subjected to a hostile work environment based on her sex. The Federal District
Court found that Pollard was subjected to co-worker sexual harassment of which her
supervisors were aware and awarded her $300,000 in compensatory damages.
Civil Rights Act of 1991

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7. Question: Randy works at the local recycling plant, but after his 10th anniversary with
the company, he is diagnosed with a serious health condition that prevents him from
performing duties essential to his job. He meets with his human resource representative to
discuss taking some unpaid time off.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993
8. Question: Ronda takes leave from her job in accounts payable for the city of Rockton to
serve on a peace keeping mission with the Army. After three months she reports back to
work and meets with her manager in the accounting department.
Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
9. Question: Mary worked at a very popular local seafood restaurant. The restaurant let
Mary, who learned she was expecting her first child, go after six months. During her
employment Mary’s manager made her announce her bathroom breaks to coworkers and
told her she couldn’t leave early for doctors’ appointments.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978