You Are the Judge Hearing a Motion for Summary Judgment

question 14

Multiple Choice

You are the judge hearing a Motion for Summary judgment filed by an employer in the case of an employee who has been terminated.The employee was the sole African-American customer service representative at the firm,who had a lengthy record of good evaluations.However,she received more negative evaluations over a period of three years after a new supervisor was hired,and the more stringent requirements applied to her were not applied to white employees.After 3 years,the employee was then selected for termination in a downsizing based on the previous 3 years' evaluations.Based on this evidence,what should you decide?

• A)you should grant summary judgment for the employer because the termination was based on performance appraisals rather than race
• B)you should grant summary judgment for the employer because a discrimination claim based on performance appraisals going back three years was no longer timely
• C)you should allow the employee to go to trial because African-Americans disproportionately received low performance ratings in this company
• D)you should allow the employee to go to trial because the termination was based on performance appraisals that were tainted by consideration of the employee's race
• E)none of the above

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Definitions:

Systematic Method

An orderly, planned approach to solving a problem, typically involving steps that are carefully followed.

Lewin's Change Model

A framework for understanding organizational change, containing three steps: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing.

Unfreezing

The initial stage in Lewin's change model that involves reducing forces maintaining the current state, enabling the acceptance of new behaviors or thoughts.

Logical Incrementalism

A strategy of making decisions through small, logical steps instead of large, radical changes.