Deck 11: Work-Life Conflicts and Other Diversity Issues

Question 1

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) requires that:

A) an employer must maintain the health insurance for an employee reporting to military service for short stints of service (less than 31 days)
B) an employer must maintain the health insurance for an employee who serves in the military for up to 24 months, if the employee pays the full cost of group coverage
C) employers are not required to maintain health insurance coverage for their employees in military service beyond a period of 30 days
D) all of these
E) a and b

Answer 1

E

Question 2

A very troublesome employee has just told you that he wants to apply for FMLA leave because his wife is seriously ill. He has taken leave before because of her illness, and depending upon how you calculate it, may have already taken the maximum amount for the year. You know that if you use a rolling 12 month period, he will not qualify, and if he is denied leave, he may actually quit, which would make many people happy. However, your firm s leave policy does not specify how leave taken will be calculated, which means that if he sued and the case went to litigation, the court would apply a calendar year calculation for the leave requested, since you ve just begun a new calendar year, and under that calculation, he would be entitled to leave. Of the following choices, what should you do?

A) deny the leave, and take your chances; tell him that he s already had the maximum leave under the rolling 12 month calculation. He s been far too troublesome for the firm, and his leaving would be a good outcome
B) deny the leave, but tell him that it s because has not been a productive employee, and when he improves, you ll consider more leave
C) grant the leave, and take your chances; maybe he ll straighten out when he comes back
D) grant the leave, and ask how he s doing; tell him that when he comes back, you d like to sit down with him and see if you can help him resolve the trouble he s been having at work

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Under the FMLA:

A) employers may require that any paid leave available to an employee be used and counted toward an employee s FMLA leave
B) employers may require that the employee stay on leave longer than they need if it satisfies an administrative purpose or convenience for the employer
C) employers may contact the employee at home by phone or e-mail with company question but cannot require the employee to physically come to the premises
D) during a valid leave, the employee is protected or shielded from layoffs or termination that would have occurred anyway
E) none of the above

Answer 3

A

Question 4

In Scobey v Nucor Steel-Arkansas. , employee Scobey had 4 unexcused absences from April 10-13, 2005. On April 9, he called to ask his supervisor to call him, but did not say why. They finally spoke on April 11, but Scobey was intoxicated, and said he was having a nervous breakdown. They spoke again during this period, and Scobey was again intoxicated, saying he was through with his job. He returned to work, was demoted, and eventually stopped coming to work. He was terminated, and sued, alleging he should have been granted FMLA leave, but the trial court granted summary judgment for his employer. The Appellate Court ruled:

A) for the employer, because Scobey did not have a serious health condition as required for leave under the FMLA
B) for the employer, because Scobey had not given adequate notice of his need for leave, as required under the FMLA
C) for Scobey, because a reasonable jury could conclude that his drunkenness gave the employer constructive notice of his need for leave under the FMLA
D) for Scobey, because he was entitled to leave under the FMLA for his nervous breakdown

Question 5

In Bachelder v. America West Airlines , an employee who had taken periods of FMLA leave in the previous two years was terminated for poor attendance. The court ruled that:

A) the employer did not violate the FMLA because the employee had already exhausted her eligibility for leave under the rolling 12 month period used by the employer
B) the employer did not violate the FMLA because she was terminated for her absences and not for having requested or taken FMLA leave
C) the employer violated the FMLA because all employees become eligible for up to 12 weeks of leave at the start of each new calendar year
D) the employer violated the FMLA because the employee was terminated based on absences that qualified as FMLA leave

Question 6

Under the FMLA, employers have the right to:

A) require that employees provide documentation of any serious health condition prior to being granted leave
B) cancel the leave of key employees
C) delay the start of leave for employees who fail to provide 30 days notice when the need for leave is foreseeable
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 7

Under the FMLA:

A) pregnancy is a serious health condition triggering the right to FMLA leave
B) pregnancy is not a serious health condition triggering the right to FMLA leave unless there are complications
C) only a pregnant employee may receive leave under the FMLA
D) none of these

Question 8

Hopalong Jones was a cowboy working on a cattle ranch out west. He has worked at the ranch for three years and done an excellent job. He is also a two time bull riding champion at the state rodeo competition. He is fired when he admits to being gay.

A) Hopalong is protected under the protected sex classification under Title VII
B) since being a cowboy is such a macho job, being heterosexual is considered a BFOQ
C) sexual orientation is a protected class in some states but not in others
D) Hopalong has no federal or state protection regarding his sexual orientation

Question 9

You need to hire a new medical technician for the emergency room of your hospital. The technician must have a thorough knowledge of medical terms and procedures, and will be interviewing patients to determine the nature and extent of their problems before they are routed to a doctor or to the waiting room. Most of the qualified candidates will be those who comes from Asian countries, who have studied medicine in their home countries, but whose MD degrees are not recognized by the U.S. Can you require that only English-speaking candidates need apply?

A) yes, because most of the patients will be English speaking
B) yes, because communication will be an integral part of the job, and most often communication will be required in an emergency situation
C) no, because under Title VII, English-only speaking requirements are presumptively discriminatory
D) no, because most of the qualified candidates will be from countries for which the first language spoken is not English

Question 10

The accent of an employee or job applicant can lawfully be taken into consideration when:

A) the firm is using its affirmative action program to diversify its workforce
B) when few English-speaking applicants or employees are available
C) when communications are a significant part of the job in question, and the person s accent substantially interferes with the ability to communicate
D) when communications are a significant part of the job in question, and the person s accent interferes in some degree with the ability to communicate

Question 11

To qualify for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), an employee must have worked:

A) at least 1250 hours during the previous 12 months
B) at least 625 hours during the previous 6 months
C) at least 2080 hours during the previous 12 months
D) at least 1040 hours during the previous 6 months

Question 12

The EEOC s guidelines hold that broad English-only rules applied at all times are:

A) presumptively discriminatory
B) presumptively non-discriminatory
C) valid, if an employer can show a business necessity for a broad-cased, all-time ban on other languages
D) invalid, because the employer can never show a business necessity for a broad-based, all-time ban on other languages

Question 13

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) requires that:

A) all persons returning from military service must be reemployed
B) employers must attempt to reinstate persons returning from military service into the positions that they would have attained absent service, including any promotions
C) employers continue to provide at least partial pay to employees serving in the military for up to 24 months
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 14

Which of the following is a qualifying event under the FMLA?

A) birth of a child
B) death of a parent
C) serious health condition of an employee s grandparent
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 15

Under the FMLA, employees are entitled to:

A) have all benefits maintained under the same conditions as if the employee had not taken leave
B) have only health benefits maintained under the same conditions as if the employee had not taken leave
C) be restored to the exact same position they left if they are deemed a key employee
D) a minimum of salary during their leave

Question 16

Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA):

A) employers are required to provide leave for childbirth and medical problems related to pregnancy
B) employers are required to restore employees returning from pregnancy leave to their former jobs or equivalent positions
C) employers are prohibited from establishing uniform requirements for when pregnancy leave must begin or end
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 17

The federal Jury System Improvements Act:

A) protects persons who serve on federal juries from discharge, intimidation or coercion by their employers because of their jury service
B) applies a Title VII approach to selection of jurors
C) reduces the number of jurors on a standard jury from 12 to 6
D) requires that employers pay their employees at their regular rate of pay for the time spent serving on a federal jury

Question 18

Legal protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation is found in:

A) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
B) statutes in about a dozen states
C) the U.S. Constitution, under which public employers must show that a compelling governmental interest is served by the discrimination
D) Executive Order 11246
E) all of the above

Question 19

In Reynolds v. Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair, Reynolds began work for his employer on August 25, 2005. On August 8, 2006, his child was born prematurely. He requested time off, which was granted. He requested further leave for November, 2005, when the child would be released from the hospital, and was terminated, the employer saying he was not entitled to FMLA leave because he had not been an employee for 12 months. The court ruled:

A) for Reynolds, since the birth of a child is a qualifying event under the FMLA
B) for Reynolds, since he notified his employer at least 30 days in advance of the need for leave, by which time, he would be an eligible employee
C) for the employer, because the employee failed to provide sufficient notice that he was requesting leave for a potentially FMLA-qualifying reason
D) for the employer, because the employee was not an eligible employee, entitled to FMLA leave

Question 20

Serious health conditions include:

A) pregnancy, when it results in a period of incapacity
B) all conditions that require hospitalization
C) all conditions that require treatment by a health care provider
D) all of the above
E) a and b