Textbook : LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW : Text and Cases[FIFTEENTH EDITION] By David P. Twomey.
CHAPTER 13 Procedures and Remedies
10. Connie Cunico, a white woman, was employed by the Pueblo, Colorado, School District as a social worker. She and other social workers were laid off in seniority order as a result of the district's poor financial situation.
However, the school board thereafter decided to retain Wayne Hunter, a black social worker with less seniority than Cunico, because he was the only black on the administrative staff.
No racial imbalance existed in the relevant workforce; black persons constituted 2 percent of the workforce. Cunico, who was rehired more than two years later, claimed that she was the victim of reverse discrimination. She stated that she lost $110,361 in back wages, plus $76,000 in attorney fees and costs.
The school district responded that it was correct in protecting with special consideration the only black administrator in the district under the general principles it had set forth in its AAP.
Refer to the text discussion of Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education. Did the school board grant a layoff preference based on race in this case?
Using standards developed in Weber and Johnson, did the employer show that its affirmative action in retaining Hunter was justified as a remedial measure?
Decide. [Cunico v. Pueblo School District No. 6, 917 F.2d 431 (10th Cir.)]