employment law/legal terminology

Please answer the questions below. Explain your reasoning in detail and provide references to employment law/legal terminology where necessary. Use no more than half a page to answer each question. These are NOT opinion questions, they do have a correct answer. References are needed to support your answer (references can include your textbook OR external articles, OR BOTH). There is no minimum number of the required references. If you have only one, but it correctly supports your answer, it will be sufficient.  SUBMIT your completed exercise here.

1.     Case 1 (20 points): An applicant for a position of a coal-shoveller went through a number of selection tests: biodata, phone interview, work sample test, and cognitive ability test. This applicant was rejected over a more qualified one who obtained a higher score for the cognitive ability test (with all other scores being equal). The applicant sued the company. Did he have a chance to win the case? Please explain.

2.      Case 2 (20 points): A small company in Dallas (13 employees) was hiring a new accountant. They made an offer to one suitable candidate. The position required 6 hours of work on Saturday. The applicant said that he would accept the offer if he had Saturdays off because of his religion (he was Jewish). The manager said that it would not be possible and terminated the offer. The applicant considered that action to be illegal because the company had to respect his religious beliefs. Does the applicant have a right to sue the company? Explain your answer.

3.      Case 3 (20 points): An American, a Russian and a Chinese applied for a position of a waitress in a Chinese restaurant in Houston.  Although the American and Russian applicants had more years of work experience as waitresses and slightly better recommendations than the Chinese lady, the latter was hired. Is it legal? Explain.

4.      Case 4 (20 points): An Asian woman (4’7” height and 90 lb. weight) applied for a position of a fire-fighter but was turned down during the first face-to-face interview because of being “too tiny” for such a job. The manager explained his decision by saying that with such height/weight, it would not be possible for the lady to, say, carry a person from the fifth floor of a burning building, so she would not be able to fulfill her job responsibilities and would even create danger for others. The Asian lady was upset and promised to sue the company. Does she have a case (can she possibly win)? Explain.

5.      Case 5 (20 points): A company formally implemented an affirmative action program to compensate for the lack of women working for this company. The company conducted an extensive recruitment but the short list of qualified applicants included 5 men and only 1 woman. There was only one position available. Although the woman was less qualified than any of the five men, she was hired because of the affirmative action protocol. Was it legal?  Explain your answer.