Warm-up

1. What is discrimination?

2. Have you ever come across such case?

3. How common is discrimination in your country?

4. Should we go to the law when being discriminated?

Case study

Read about the three real cases and complete the table.

Case 1

When Tahir Hussain, an Asian man, applied for a job with a motor firm, his application was turned down. However, when he invented a fictitious CV for a white Englishwoman called Catherine Riley to accompany an application for the same job, he was called for an interview. He claimed the car dealer was guilty of both sex and race discrimination. The solicitor representing the car company said that Mr. Hussain’s application had been refused because it appeared arrogant and over-sold himself. The CV from the imaginary Catherine Riley was more factual.

Case 2

Mrs. Gweneth Niman wants to take the charity Age Concern to court because she was told to retire when she turned 70. She earned $280 a month selling insurance. Mrs. Niman is so angry that she is prepared to go all the way to the European Court of Human Justice. Age Concern, which campaigns against ageism, said she could continue her job on a voluntary basis. The charity says that all staff knows that 70 is the maximum retirement age.

Case 3

A man was refused a job at a chicken factory because he was too tall. Sun Valley Foods rejected him for factory work. Barry Seale, who is 1.88m, claims sex discrimination because men are generally taller than women. The firm says it operated a “heightist” policy because it was afraid that tall workers would suffer back and neck injury.

Profile Intermediate, Oxford Business English

Speaking

I. Discuss your immediate reaction to each of the three cases.

II. What decision would you make if you were a judge?

III. Below you may find out what the real tribunals decided.

Case 1: The court decided the motor firm was guilty of racial discrimination.

Case 2: The case has not been dealt yet.

Case 3: The court decided that the Sun Valley Company was guilty.

Lesson 4. Product tampering

Warm-up

I. What is product tampering? Consult your Active Vocabulary or any other dictionary.

II. Have you ever come across product tampering?

III. What cases of product tampering are known in your country?

IV. Why do people do this?

Active vocabulary