Case Brief on Potential Claims against Cardware Inc

Cardigan History
The Cardigan family has made a name for themselves in the sweater industry whereby they
have designed sweaters for a variety of uses and for a wide target audience ranging from
toddlers to business professionals. Cassandra, whom everyone calls Cassie, is the CEO of
CARDWARE Inc., Camoni is the spokesperson for the sweater line, and Candie models the
lines in the professional sphere. They often use their mother, Camille, as a business
consultant for input about various new ideas and marketing because she was the manager
and agent of her son’s glove company. Cora and Caley, Camille’s two youngest daughters
from her second failed marriage to Bo Jenkins, are co-office managers of their headquarters
located in Silkadonia.
CARDWARE is growing by leaps and bounds. It has now opened 10 new stores nationwide
under the name “The Sporty One.” It has been agreed by the Board of Directors at
CARDWARE Inc. that each store shall have a general manager and assistant manager who
both were to act as sales persons and one additional sales person. The slogan the store
advertises its sports ware with is “You don’t have to be an athlete to look and feel like one.”
The current sports ware that “The Sporty One” carries shows a clothing distribution of 60%
for females and 40% of its line is for males. However, it would eventually like for it to be a
50/50 distribution. The Cardigans research has demonstrated that the trend has been more
female than male shoppers. Further, following the marketing theory of many high end
clothing stores, CARDWARE prefers slender, young employees to work for it, so that the
clothing line can keep with the image of being sporty.
Petunia Rotunda, a middle aged, slightly plump woman saw an ad online for a salesperson
for The Sporty One and applied for the position. The ad read as follows:
WANTED: Salesperson experienced in retail sales or marketing preferred, energetic,
youthful, athletic, and able to “sport” the clothing lines of The Sporty One with style.
The Sporty One is a division of CARDWARE Inc. and proud to be an Equal
Opportunity Employer.
Petunia has had 5 years of retail experience working in a garden shop that did have some
flannel shirts and aprons as well as gardening gloves for sale. Noah Dahl, a college graduate
in marketing also saw the ad and applied for the salesperson position at The Sporty One.
Noah, a slender racquetball player has not had any retail experience but has had customer
service experience for an online gaming company.
After interviewing both applicants, CARDWARE’s General Manager, Chloe, one of the
cousins of the Cardigan clan has decided to hire Noah. Petunia was outraged claiming that

she should have been hired and that she has been discriminated against based on her age.
CARDWARE contends that Noah was more qualified as per the advertisement as well as
company image and future plans for the company; age had nothing to do with it.
Noah began work the following week. Still angry, Petunia visited The Sporty One. She began
to harass Noah to the point where other customers started to leave the store. Having had
enough insults, Noah grabbed Petunia by the arm and shoved her towards the door. She
stumbled and ran into one of the clothing racks and thereafter knocked over 92-year-old
Hetty Whitestone who was passing by the mall store. Hetty suffered a concussion and died.
Using the above facts given, please label with headings and discuss the following in this
order:
PART I:
 Did CARDWARE have genuine BFOQs (Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications)
in its ad?
 Do not forget to review the company’s slogan as given in the above facts.
 Be sure to discuss Petunia’s point of view as well as CARDWARE’s position and
defenses.
 Use legal authority to support your position as well.
PART II:
 If Petunia brings a lawsuit based on negligence against CARDWARE and The Sporty
One, will CARDWARE be responsible for Noah’s behavior? If so, under what theory?
 What defenses might CARDWARE assert?
 If Hetty Whitestone’s estate claims that CARDWARE should be responsible for
Hetty’s death, will it?
 What defenses might CARDWARE utilize?
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Answer Preview……………………….

Part I. Whether Cardware has Genuine BFOQ’s in its Ad. The Bona Fide Occupational Qualification provision is a pragmatic exemption to the anti-discrimination provisions of labor laws. The following are the basic elements of a legitimate BFOQ. The specified job qualification(s) must be plausibly crucial for the fundamental nature of the business, and either all or considerably all persons excluded from the relevant position are in fact unqualified, or some of the excluded individuals have a disqualifying characteristic that could not be confirmed except by referring to the qualification in question (29 C.F.R., s. 1625.6 (b); Western Air Lines, Inc. v. Criswell, 1985). Suffice to note that the first element is an alternative to either the second or the third elements. Therefore, determining whether the company’s ad ha a valid BFOQ requires the presence of the first item and either the second or the third elements………………………
APA 779 words