Applicants are asked the following true or false questions:Nearly a third of the test's questions focus on attitudes toward corporate authority. Thompson was rejected after he answered such questions incorrectly with a question mark. His legal team, which includes the ACLU, states that the questions on the test are not ones that have anything to do with a security guard.
- Most companies make too much profit.
- Workers usually come last as far as companies are concerned.
- Society really encourages rebelliousness by having too many rules.
- Do you sometimes enjoy going against the rules and doing things you're not supposed to do?
- Most employers try to keep their people happy just to get more work out of them.
- If the facts were known, most bosses take more from the company than their workers, but are better able to get away with it.
Lawyers for Thompson contend that Borg-Warner's political litmus test violates the state's labor code which prohibits job discrimination because of political affiliation or participation. In March, a federal judge rebuffed an attempt by Borg-Warner to have the suit dismissed. Thompson's attorneys are currently preparing a class-action suit, the first-ever legal challenge to a political pre-employment test. Ed Chen of the ACLU believes that if the suit is successful, this case will nip in the bud a potentially dangerous trend of hiring on the basis of one's political beliefs.
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