Group 2: Chapter 7 Question 8 by Chris Arrington

Court Decision:

The Trial Court’s decision was reversed and remanded for discovery. The plaintiffs were, “entitled to make additional efforts to prove a case of intentional discrimination within the boundaries sketched in this opinion.” The main issue was that the Plaintiff’s original claim was not enough to warrant a remedy and summary judgement dismissed the case; however, on appeal, it was found that the Plaintiff was making a claim at intentional discrimination and was sent back to the courts for hearing.

Group Decision:
The book version is a bit vague on the details, but Title VII does not require comparable worth standards and it only prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of gender for setting pay scales. The main claim the nurses have here is that a state study was not followed in setting wages. Not following a study is not enough to make a claim at intentional discrimination based on sex.  If the wages for these nurses were in line with the market of wages for other comparable jobs, then there would be no claim under Title VII as the employer would not be discriminating against the women, but merely following market trends as we’ve seen in Lemons v.Denver.