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Cronan Case

Cronan Case Analysis

Legal Analysis

The legal issues in the Cronan case are primarily centered on job discrimination. For employment discrimination to be present, three basic elements must be involved. First, it is a decision against one or more employees that is not based on individual merit, such as the ability to perform the job. This element presumably has been satisfied in the Cronan case as no evidence was presented indicating that Cronan was unable to perform his job. Second, the decision derives solely or in part from racial or sexual prejudice, false stereotypes, or some other kind of morally unjustified attitude against members of the class to which the employee belongs. This element is also present in the Cronan case as was indicated by the fact that prior to Cronan being diagnosed with AIDS (and the subsequent dissemination of the information to the remainder of the workforce) there had been no indication of hostilities toward Cronan. Third, the decision (or set of decisions) has a harmful or negative impact on the interests of the employees, perhaps costing jobs, promotions, or better pay. This also was clearly portrayed in the Cronan case as was demonstrated by Cronan's fear to return to the South Boston facility due to the hostilities and New England Telephone Company (NET) initial lack of accommodation for his transfer request. This laid a strong foundation for legal action to be taken based on employee discrimination laws.

NET said that Cronan voluntarily disclosed the AIDS condition and further claimed that Cronan never responded to its offer to return nor made any attempts to be reinstated. The provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are not applicable to the Cronan case. The major purposes of the Title VII provisions are to eliminate job discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The provisions of Title VII apply to employers with 15 or more...

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