Dunlap

Dunlap v. Tennessee Valley Authority

Kathryn Wilcher

HRM510

02/03/13

Assignment #2 - Dunlap v. Tennessee Valley Authority

Read the Dunlap v. Tennessee Valley Authority case. You are to write a 3-4 page report that answers the following questions:

What were the legal issues in this case?

The legal issue in this case involves David Dunlap, who feels that the interviewing process at Tennessee Valley Authority is discriminating and goes against Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. David Dunlap is a fifty-two year-old black man who has worked as a boilermaker for twenty years, including nearly fifteen years' experience as a boilermaker foreman responsible for a crew of boilermakers. “Most of Dunlap's experience has been with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) facilities located across Tennessee through contract or temporary work with his union.   Dunlap asserts that he has tried to gain employment with the TVA since the 1970s, but had never been offered a job, or even an interview. For the boilermaker position at issue, Dunlap submitted his resume and application before the application deadline.” (FindLaw, 2012)   Dunlap feels that he experienced discrimination under disparate treatment and disparate (adverse) impact by the subjective interview. He feels that the interview was very biased towards the white applicants. The committee scored each applicant as they were interviewed. Dunlap felt that the scoring process lacked merit and had no rhyme or reason. For example Dunlap scored less on a question about safety then an applicant who has had two accidents in the past eleven years and he has had none. The scoring system itself can lead to several legal issues. When a numbered scale is not well defined on why each number is given and what each number means a company is being very arbitrary. It's also difficult to conclude misconduct by scores of tests. It could be that someone could be perfectly great at a job, but not test well, or do assessment...