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A Structural Approach As Antidiscrimination Mandate: Locating Employer Wrong, Tristin K. Green

Vanderbilt Law Review

A structural approach to employment discrimination law seeks to impose an obligation on employers not to facilitate discriminatory decisionmaking in the workplace. Scholars across disciplines agree that a structural approach is a crucial element of an effective antidiscrimination law. Existing law fails to account for the ways in which bias manifests subtly in day-to-day workplace decisionmaking, or for the influence of organizational context on that decisionmaking. But the future of a structural approach depends, in part, on its normative foundation. Without sufficient normative underpinning, a structural approach is unlikely to gain traction in the public or in the courts.

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