Employment Discrimination/Racial pp. 262-268

Employment Discrimination/Racial pp. 262-268 Nicola Moxey MED 6490 February 9, 2010

Employment Discrimnation • 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses AND several federal statutes protect public school personnel against employment discrimination!

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII, 42 U.S.C. 2000e • Unlawful employment practice- for an employer to discriminate against any individual because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; to limit, segregate, or classify employees by race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; to hire and employ based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

Cont’d • Unlawful employment practice: • to use a bona fide seniority or merit system/test …provided that such differences are not the result of an intention to discriminate • to grant preferential treatment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national religion * If a court were to find any employer to be intentionally engaging in unlawful employment practice…the court may order such affirmative action appropriate

Racial Discrimination • Brown v. BOE of Topeka 347 U.S. 483 (1954) Declared de jure segregation to be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment *The issue of racial discrimination in the hiring, treatment, and dismissal of black teachers became a much-litigated during the early days of desegregation

“Last-hired/First-fired” PrincipleFirefighters Local Union NO. 1784 v. Stotts • Court asserted that seniority systems, as long as they are unbiased, may not be disrupted to save the jobs of newly hired minority workers. *The decision states that “it is inappropriate to deny an innocent employee the benefits of his seniority in order to provide a remedy in a pattern or practice suit such as this”

Wygant v. Jackson BOE476 U.S. 267 (1986) • Five-to-four decision holding that the termination of white teachers instead of less-senior black teachers was a violation of the nonminority teachers’ constitutional equal protection. • District adopted new hiring goals

Taxman v. BOE of the Township of Piscataway91 F.3d 1547 (3rd Cir. 1996) cert. dismissed 522 U.S. 1010 (1997) • A white female business education teacher was laid off instead of a black female teacher with the came seniority, solely on the basis of race. • Court held BOE violated Title VII • Prior to Supreme Court ruling, settlement was met. BOE paid $433, 500. *Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to both private and public employment!

Wards Cove Packing Company v. Atonio490 U.S. 642 (1989) • Case had a dramatic effect on civil rights litigation! • Held that statistics alone were not enough to prove discrimination, rather causation must be shown between an employment practice and the alleged disparity in hiring; although minorities may be disproportionately concentrated in unskilled positions.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 • Under this law, victims of employment bias based on race, sex, disability, religion, or national origin may collect limited compensatory and punitive damages. • Employment practices must be “job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity”. • Also requires employers to prove that an employment standard that results in adverse impact is necessary for successful job performance.

Tyler v. Hot Springs School District No. 6827 F.2d 1227 (8th Cir. 1987) • Federal appellate court held that “the reasons asserted by the school district may have been based partly on subjective considerations, but they were premised on objective factual observations that clearly constitute legitimate reasons for not renewing the plaintiff’s contract”

Shanklin v. Fiztgerald397 F.3d 596 (8th Cir. 2005) • A ten-year black teacher was terminated for repeated performance deficiencies (cursing and belittling students) The teacher sued under a race discrimination claim * Appellate court rejected claim and held that her termination was legitimate and nondiscriminatory

Additional Cases United States v. South Carolina -upheld the use of the National Teacher examination for state certification United States v. LULAC -upheld the Texas Pre-Professional Skills Test which college students were required to pass prior to scheduling more than 6 hours of professional education courses at any state college or university NCLB- classrooms must be staffed with “highly qualified” teachers

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