WK 5 – Business Law (Legal Implications in Executive Decision Making) (1 page(s), 0 slides)
Discussion 2: Employment Law
In this Discussion, you will analyze issues of employment law related to occupational qualifications.
The following Learning Materials will help you with Discussion 2.
Introduction to Business Law (5th ed.) – see attachments
Chapter 17, “Agency”
Chapter 18, “Employment Law”
Chapter 19, “Employment Discrimination”
These chapters review laws that regulate relationships between employers and their agents, employees, and contractors. These relationships determine the scope of liability that an employer may have for torts or breach of contract committed by agents, employees, or contractors.
These chapters also examine state and federal laws that govern recruitment, hiring, promotion, discipline, pay, working conditions, and termination of employees.
Post a 250-300 word response to the following Discussion prompt. Ensure that your response answers all parts of the question and is supported by both in-text citations and a reference list.
In 1961, NASA began admitting women into its astronaut training program. They performed well in the training but none of them were allowed to serve as astronauts because NASA changed its rules to require jet fighter experience for astronauts. Since women were not eligible to fly jet fighters, they could not qualify for space duty.
What type of claim could these women have made under Title VII? Comment on the strength of the hypothetical case, including what the women would have to prove in order to establish a prima facie case and what NASA’s best defense would be
NOTE FROM THE PROFESSOR:
1. There’s no need to reiterate the facts or cut and paste the question. Don’t waste your valuable space and word count.
2. Stay on course. Focus on what the question is asking. Remember to stay on focus. You will certainly have your opinion on the correct conclusion to the case but the application of law usually does not involve politics, opinion, or social policy arguments – especially when its supposed to be 250-300 words.
3. Be careful with your citations and sources. I don’t care about the format of the citations, but I do very much care about the sources you use. Please do not use Wikipedia, blogs (especially those written by attorneys or advocacy groups), or popular press. Of course you can refer to those to get a better understanding of the case, but they will not help you, and maybe even hurt you when understanding the law. Please also use specific page references in both your initial post and in your responses to your classmates’ posts.
4. Finally, don’t feel that the burden of the world is on your shoulders with these discussion posts. I am not asking you to uncover every legal issue in the original cases.
5. As a general rule, the call of the question has all of the facts that you need to be able to mechanically apply the rule. This is not a case brief exercise. It is an analytical exercise where I am giving you facts and asking you to apply the rule learned this week to come out with a reasoned conclusion. In fact, there is no right or wrong answer, just a right or wrong way of answering the question.
