Workshop 5 (half day)
Employment Law: That Was the Year That Wasand What Might Be Next
Presenters: Art Gutman, Florida Institute of Technology
Donald L. Zink, Personnel Management Decisions
Coordinator: Peter Bachiochi, Eastern Connecticut State University
It is critical for I-O psychologists to remain abreast of developments in employment law, particularly for those who work in a corporate environment. It is also a critical area for developers of selection instruments, consultants who function as expert witnesses or produce work product for labor attorneys, and academic psychologists with teaching interests in personnel selection, tests and measurement, training, and organizational development. This workshop will review the most recent decisions of the Supreme Court and their implications for personnel selection issues. The major topical areas are (a) summary of EEOC and Supreme Court statistics and brief overview of key prior cases; (b) key cases in the past 23 years, such as
General Dynamics Land Systems v. Cline (2004), Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders (2004), and
Smith v. City of Jackson (2005); (c) key lower court issues, such as being regarded as being disabled within the meaning of the ADA, the status of personality tests in the ADA, and requirements to wear makeup at work; and (d) implications of the Supreme Courts rulings in
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) on diversity in college and graduate programs for parallel considerations in the workplace.
This workshop is designed to help participants:
- Identify trends in charges of discrimination brought to the EEOC and litigated in the courts
- Assess the implications of recent Supreme Court decisions for I-O practice
- Anticipate presently unresolved issues in the lower courts that are likely to reach the Supreme Court in the near future
- Apply implications of recent Supreme Court decisions on diversity in educational programs to affirmative action programs in the workplace
- Apply implications of changes in employment law to personnel practices in the workplace
Art Gutman is professor of psychology and past chair of the I-O graduate program at Florida Institute of Technology. He is the author of
EEO Law and Personnel Practices (Sage, 2000) and the originator of On the Legal Front, a column on workplace discrimination that appears quarterly in
TIP. He has consulted with public and private employers, creating and validating tests, doing program evaluations, and working on legal issues related to workplace discrimination, including functioning as an expert witness. He spent 2 years at the University of Colorado as a National Institute of Mental Health Fellow and 2 years on the faculty at Georgia State University. He has been at Florida Tech since 1979. He received his PhD degree in psychology from Syracuse University in 1975.
Donald L. Zink began his professional career as a research psychologist in the U.S. Air Force, with the Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center and the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, performing human factors research. He received his masters degree in experimental psychology in the mathematical psychology program from the University of Michigan, under Air Force sponsorship. After retiring from the Air Force, he joined the staff of Mary Tenopyr at AT&T, where he worked on developing and validating selection procedures. His interest in employment law was sparked by his involvement with AT&T attorneys in responding in defense to challenged tests. After the breakup of the Bell system, he continued his I-O career as a consultant and obtained his JD degree from the University of Denver, emphasizing employment law and civil rights. Although he is a licensed attorney, he does not practice but prefers to continue his professional involvement within the I-O community. In addition to teaching employment law for the University of Phoenix, he is an adjunct faculty member at the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, where he teaches statistical evidence in litigation.
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