Reference no: EM133803966

Question

Tony is an African American employee at an auto parts store. He's the only non-white employee in the store. He's always on time, never misses a day's work, and has never been disciplined or received a bad performance review. But it's obvious that Tony is treated differently from the other employees. He always gets the late-night and weekend shifts. He's never received a raise, a bonus, or a promotion, although employees with less experience and fewer sales at the store have. He's even the one who's told to clean the restrooms, even though that was never part of his formal job description. Tony finally files a complaint for racial discrimination with the HR department. His supervisor tells HR it's nonsense, and that all employee's job descriptions include the employer's right to assign shifts on an "as needed" basis, and include a phrase "other duties as assigned". He also claims that Tony doesn't get raises, bonuses, or promotions because he's just an average employee.

1. Explain what a disparate treatment claim is, and whether there are facts that would support such a claim by Tony.

2. Explain what an employer's defense of a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for disparate treatment is, and what facts might support such a defense to Tony's claim.

3. How could Tony rebut the employer's defense, and what facts would support him?