Employment Discrimination


Amaani Lyle, an African American woman, was hired by Warner Brothers Television Productions to be a scriptwrit–
ers’ assistant for the writers of Friends, a popular adult-oriented television series. One of her essential job duties was
to type detailed notes for the scriptwriters during brainstorming sessions in which they discussed jokes, dialogue, and
story lines. The writers then combed through Lyle’s notes after the meetings for script material. During these meetings,
the three male scriptwriters told lewd and vulgar jokes and made sexually explicit comments and gestures. They often
talked about their personal sexual experiences and fantasies, and some of these conversations were then used in episodes
of Friends.
During the meetings, Lyle never complained that she found the writers’ conduct offensive. After four months, Lyle
was fired because she could not type fast enough to keep up with the writers’ conversations during the meetings. She
filed a suit against Warner Brothers, alleging sexual harassment and claiming that her termination was based on racial
discrimination. Using the information presented in the chapter, answer the following questions.

1. Would Lyle’s claim of racial discrimination be for intentional (disparate-treatment) or unintentional (disparate-
impact) discrimination? Explain.

2. Can Lyle establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination? Why or why not?

3. When Lyle was hired, she was told that typing speed was extremely important to the position. At the time, she
maintained that she could type eighty words per minute, so she was not given a typing test. It later turned out that
Lyle could type only fifty words per minute. What impact might typing speed have on Lyle’s lawsuit?

4. Lyle’s sexual-harassment claim is based on the hostile working environment created by the writers’ sexually offensive
conduct at meetings that she was required to attend. The writers, however, argue that their behavior was essential
to the “creative process” of writing for Friends, a show that routinely contained sexual innuendos and adult humor.
Which defense discussed in the chapter might Warner Brothers assert using this argument?