Reference no: EM133166958

1. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional mass transit authority in the Philadelphia area. SEPTA sought to upgrade the fit-ness level of its transit police by adopting a requirement that, in order to be hired as transit police, job applicants must be able to run 1.5 miles in 12 minutes or less. The requirement was developed by a consul-tant to SEPTA, Dr. Paul Davis, after he studied the job of transit officer for several days. He felt that completion of the 1.5-mile run within the required time would ensure that the applicant possessed suf-ficient aerobic capacity to perform the job. SEPTA also tested transit officers hired prior to the adop-tion of the 1.5-mile run requirement, and discovered that a significant percentage of the incumbents could not complete the run within the required time limit. Some of the incumbent employees who failed the run requirement had been awarded special recogni-tion and commendations for their job performance. One female employee, hired by mistake after she had failed the requirement, was nominated for Officer of the Year awards because of her job performance.

After the adoption of the 1.5-mile run require-ment, only 12 percent of the female applicants suc-cessfully passed it, while 56 percent of the male applicants passed it; SEPTA employed 234 transit police officers, but only 16 of the officers were female. A group of female applicants who failed the 1.5-mile run requirement filed suit against SEPTA under Title VII, alleging that the 1.5-mile run requirement had a disparate impact on women. SEPTA argued that the more physically fit officers are, the better they are able to perform their job.

Will the plaintiffs be successful in their suit, or can SEPTA establish that the 1.5-mile run requirement is job related? Explain your answer.

2. What is at-will employment? Can an at-will employee be terminated for any reason? If so, are there any exceptions? How is at-will employment different from an employee who has an employment contract? Can you please incorporate at least one credible source into this discussion so that I can read the sourced information?

3. What were the main reasons the Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted? What are some of the issues that the Fair Labor Standards Act addresses? What is overtime, and is everyone entitled to receive it? If not, what are some examples of employees that are not entitled to receive overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act? Can you incorporate at least two credible sources so that I can read on the sourced information?