Why is it important for I-O and HR professionals to be familiar with EEO law?

• Numerous HR functions are affected by EEO laws (e.g., personnel selection, performance appraisal, compensation)

• Lack of knowledge can lead to possible lawsuits and liability (damages)

• Limited awareness of EEO law can lead to poor public relations

• May help you get a job by possessing important KSAs (many organizations assume that IO folks know EEO law), But, not commonly taught in graduate school: See: TIP article

Rank Ordering of Course Usefulness in 1st and Current Jobs

(From Erffmeyer & Mendel, 1990)First Full-Time Job Present Full-Time Job

Course Ranking Mean Rank Ranking Mean Rank

Personnel Psychology

Legal Issues

Training

Psychometrics

I-O Psychology

Organizational Psychology

Advanced Statistics

SPSS

Thesis

Experimental Design

Individual Differences

Methods & Ethics

Advanced Social Psychology

1

2

3

4

5.5

5.5

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

3.05

4.95

5.07

5.10

5.90

5.90

6.55

6.56

7.05

7.10

8.33

9.00

11.00

1

6

4

2

3

8

7

5

9

10

12

11

13

3.76

5.94

5.42

4.82

5.29

6.24

6.00

5.53

6.76

6.82

9.00

8.73

10.59

Source: Tett, Walser, Brown, Simonet, & Tonidandel (April, 2013). The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist.

Role of Internships For example, Byrne et al. recommended that employment law be taught in the certified internship rather than as part of the graduate curriculum. We certainly agree that employment law should be taught to I – O graduate students, a sentiment consistent with Tett et al.’s (2013) finding that suggests master’s programs currently teach this more regularly than do doctoral programs. Two of us regularly teach the employment law course in our respective graduate pro- grams, and one of the authors recently developed the instructor’s materials for the most recent edition of a widely used Equal Employment Opportunity law book (Gutman, Koppes, & Vodanovich, 2010). We recognize this material can be difficult to teach. Yet, because of the challenges in teaching an employment law course, I – O graduate programs should assume this responsibility rather than deferring it to an internship host. With only a few exceptions, our experience with hundreds of interns over a period of several decades indicates it is rare for an intern to be exposed to employment law in sufficient depth to become proficient in the details of the law. Further- more, because of the potential employer liability involved with employment law in practice, it is unlikely an internship host would delegate anything more than peripheral tasks to an intern.

From: Janet L. Kottke, Elizabeth L. Shoenfelt and Nancy J. Stone (2014). Educating Industrial–Organizational Psychologists: Lessons Learned From Master's Programs. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 7, 26-31 doi:10.1111/iops.12099

Some Challenges to Learning EEO Law

Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. --- Aristotle

1) The legal landscape is constantly changing (new laws, recommendations/guidelines, court decisions) Thankfully, lots of easy accessibility via numerous web sites!!!

2) Legal terminology including many Latin phrases (e.g., prima facie, en banc, de novo, stare decisis, certiorari)

3) Writing style (e.g., court cases – double negatives)

Total Charges

40,000

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

1,000

Retaliation Race Sex Disability Age National Sexual Religion Pregnancy Equal (Total) Origin Pay

31,073

EEOC Claims by Discrimination Type in 2014

37,955

25,369

20,588

6,862

9,579

3,4003,549

938

26,027

Total EEOC Charges & Monetary Benefits By Year

Year # of Total Charges

Monetary Benefits (Millions)

2008 95,402 $274.4

2009 93,277 $294.2

2010 99,922 $319.4

2011 99,947 $364.7

2012 99,412 $365.4

2013 93,727 $372.1

2014 88,778 $296.1

Art Gutman, Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Web Site: https://www.fit.edu/faculty/profiles/profile.php?value=50

Developer of On The Legal Front section in The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist (TIP)

Laura K. Bryan, Professor and Dean (Vice president of academic affairs and Dean of Transylvania University)

~ Your Textbook Authors ~

Hears fewer than 100 cases per year of about 10,000 filed

Total of 179 judges; lifetime appointment.

Established by Congress; judges serve

10 year terms

Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Map

US Courts of Appeals and US District Courts Map

See details of each District Court here

The number of districts vary within each State. Some states have only one district (e.g., Arizona, Colorado, Delaware), while others have multiple districts (e.g., California, Florida, Texas).

U.S. Supreme CourtBackground:

Court established by Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution:

"[t]he judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”

The Act also created the federal circuit courts and the federal district courts, the Office of the Attorney General, and granted the President the right to nominate justices for appointment to the United States Supreme Court with the advice and consent of the Senate.In its 1st year, the Court consisted of 6 justices (one Chief Justice and 5 associate justices). The present composition of one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices was established under an Act passed in 1948 (28 U.S.C. 1)Relatively weak branch of government in the early years.

Supreme Cout Justice Seating Test

1) Conflicting opinions between the circuit courts

2) Lower court decision that conflicts with previous Supreme Court ruling

3) Issues of constitutional importance

Reasons Why the Supreme Court Takes a Case

Robert Barnes, Supreme Court correspondent for The Washington Post, will discuss the federal government's most cloistered and least understood institution, and the pivotal role it plays with the political branches in the nation's governance. After its most dramatic change in personnel in decades, the increasingly conservative court will be faced with challenges to President Obama's progressive agenda amid bitter political deadlock in Washington. Controversial issues such as affirmative action, immigration, same-sex marriage, gun control and health care are on the court's horizon. Barnes will also discuss the four youngest and newest justices who will shape its future, and answer.

• Congress can pass legislation to overturn Supreme Court rulings (e.g., CRA 1991, Ledbetter Act, ADAAA)

The Court Process

• The person filing the suit is called the “plaintiff”

• The person or organization against whom the charge of discrimination is made is called the “defendant”

Legal Citations

U.S. Supreme Court Cases

Petitioner(Plaintiff)

Respondent(Defendant)

Volume #

Reporter

Beginning page # of case

The U.S. Reporter is the preferred cite, but sometimes others are used instead. One is the Supreme Court Reporter.  The format for this is:

Teamsters v. U.S., 97 S. Ct. 1843 (1977).

There is also a Lawyers Edition that is used:

Teamsters v. U.S., 52, L. Ed.2nd 396.

Teamsters v. U.S., 431 U.S. 324 (1977)

Year of decision

Format used in book: Teamsters v. United States (1977) 431 US 324

Legal Citations (cont.)

Glover v. Johnson, 75 F.3d 264 (6th Cir.1996)

Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Cases

Appellee

Appellant Volume #

Reporter

Beginning page # of case

Circuit Court

Year of decision

The terms Appellee v. Appellant are used in the Court of Appeals. Therefore, it is possible that the order of the parties in the original case may be reversed. For instance, in a case that started as Johnson v. Glover may be reported as Glover v. Johnson in the Court of Appeals reporter.

Format used in the text: Glover v. Johnson (CA 6, 1996) 75 F.3d 264

• Federal Reporter (Cited as F.) –

1880-1924

• Federal Reporter, 2d series. (Cited as F. 2d) -

1924-1993

• Federal Reporter, 3d series. (Cited as F. 3d) –

1993 +

Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Reporters

1st - ME, MA, NH, PR, RI 2nd - NY, VT, CT 3rd - PA, NJ, DE, VI 4th - MD, NC, SC, VA, WV 5th - LA, TX, MS 6th - MI, OH, KY TN 7th - IL, IN, WI8th - ND, SD, MN, NE, IA, MO AR 9th - CA, OR, WA, AZ, MT, ID, NV, AK, HI 10th - CO, KS, NM, OK, UT, WY 11th - AL, GA, FL DC - DC, Tax Court, fed admin agencies. Federal - Patent, Int'l Trade, Claims Court and Veterans' Appeals.

Listing of Federal Circuit Court of Appeals

From: Findlaw.com

Legal Citations (cont.)

Federal District Court Cases

Glover v. Johnson, 478 F. Supp. 1075 (E.D.Mich.1979)

Petitioner

Respondent

Volume #Reporte

rBeginning page

# of case

District Court Year of

decision