National Origin Discrimination In Pay—Legal Or Not?

Chapter 3 – Case Study 1: National Origin Discrimination In Pay—Legal Or Not?

According to the Equal Pay Act, employers are permitted to pay males and females different wages under a limited set of circumstances. What about differences in national origin, however? Are there legitimate reasons that a company can use to pay individuals differently based on their national origin?

Winner Ford of Cherry Hill and Winner Ford evidently thought so. They employed Chinese and non-Chinese emergency and accessory installation (EAI) technicians. The company paid the Chinese EAI technicians as much as $3 per hour less than it paid the non-Chinese technicians. The dealerships are part of Chas. S. Winner Inc. The company is a large automotive dealership based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The dealership offers direct sales and leasing of cars and trucks, fleet management services, police responder vehicles, delivery vehicles, and more.

The technicians performed the same work, regardless of national origin. Some of the non-Chinese workers had less experience than the Chinese technicians, and others had no experience. Because of the pay disparity, one of the Chinese EAIs complained. The company responded by reprimanding him for complaining and suggested that he could lose his job if he sought legal advice. The EEOC brought charges against the company in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey when attempts at conciliation were not successful. The court ordered the company to pay $150,000 in lost wages and damages to the members of the class action lawsuit. The courts also required a consent decree for three years.

Answer the following questions by applying the concepts learned in Chapter 3. Please post the case study in as one MS Word document. Note: See template provided for case study paper. Also, conduct literature reviews on the subject of discussion and use to support your case study answers:

1. Visit the EEOC website and read about national origin Discrimination, especially noting the “Facts About National Origin Discrimination” under the “More Information” section. Prepare a memo to explain to the owners of Winner Ford why what they did was a problem.
2. What type of discrimination occurred? What would Winner Ford need to do to defend their actions successfully?
3. Why do courts require consent decrees? What were the specifics of the consent decree in this case? (Information is available on the EEOC website in their “News” section and in other places online.)
4. Under what circumstances could Winner Ford justify paying Chinese employees less than non-Chinese employees and not be breaking the law? Would you recommend that they do so? Why or why not?