Stacked employee ratings and performance bell-curves

Some employers grade their employee’s job performance on a curve.  In these systems, like back in college, the employer generally sets the number of A, B,C’s etc. to assign to the employees performance.  Proponents argue that the system is more fair and adds to employee moral in the long run.  Neal Buethe of

Briggs and Morgan,

and

Nancy Gunzenhauser and Jeffrey Landes of Epstein Becker Green

discuss some of the legal issues to consider when adopting these types of systems.