See You In Court - September 2021

• Published date: 16 September 2021
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Consumer Protection, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Education
• Law Firm: Shipman & Goodwin LLP
• Author: Mr Thomas B. Mooney

The members of the Nutmeg Board of Education were frustrated with the low-energy, long-serving assistant superintendent, and they were delighted to receive a confidential email from Mr. Superintendent that the assistant superintendent had finally decided to move on. Veteran Board member Bob Bombast was right on it, emailing back to Mr. Superintendent that the Board would like to be "very involved" in the search for a new assistant superintendent.

"Thank you for your interest in helping me identify a new assistant superintendent," Mr. Superintendent wrote "Replay all" in response to Bob's email. "I value the perspective of Board members, and I will request your assistance in the selection process."

True to his word, some weeks later Mr. Superintendent sent the Board members the resumes of the top twenty applicants and asked for them to rank the candidates in order and send him their rankings. Surprisingly, there was unanimity in the Board members' rankings, shared by "Reply All" emails, and three candidates stood out from the crowd as the best prospects. Mr. Superintendent then scheduled Board interviews with the three candidates.

Mr. Superintendent posted the interviews as "Executive Session: Personnel Matter," and Mr. Superintendent told the Board members to stick to scripted questions so that each candidate would have a fair opportunity to answer the same questions. Moreover, the Board members were to fill out prepared forms with their impressions of the candidates between the interviews. Mr. Superintendent described these procedures in an email to the Board members, along with the questions he had prepared for each of the Board members to ask.

The first interview had just started when Bob Bombast went off-script. The candidate stated that she had earned her undergraduate degree at UCONN, and Bob jumped right in. "I went to UCONN too!" Bob told the candidate excitedly. "What class were you in?" When the candidate answered Bob, he was surprised, and he told the candidate that she didn't look that old! The candidate thanked Bob for the compliment, and the candidate made a good impression on Bob and the other Board members. During a scheduled break, the Board members filled out their interview forms on the first candidate, and the next candidate came in.

For the most part, the interview with the second candidate also went well. But in filling out the interview form, Board member Mal Content noted that the candidate had an "ethnic" hairstyle that could be...