ABSTRACT
Mary Bates had been employed at Alliance Sterling for 14 years. When her boss, Harold Pinker, retired, she applied for his job. Ms. Bates had an excellent performance record and had been a loyal and reliable employee. She believed she deserved the promotion. Instead of choosing Ms. Bates as his replacement, however, Mr. Pinker chose her coworker, Mark Fitzsimmons. Mr. Fitzsimmons not only was younger than Ms. Bates, but also had worked for the rm fewer years than she. When Ms. Bates demanded to know why she was passed over for the promotion, Mr. Pinker told her that Mr. Fitzsimmons had better managerial skills than she and that he thought the other workers would respond better to Mr. Fitzsimmons than to her. Was Ms. Bates a victim of sex (or age or race) discrimination? Or was she in fact not as well qualied or talented as Mr. Fitzsimmons?
