Law Commons^™

Disparate Impact Theory In Employment Discrimination: What’S Griggs Still Good For? What Not?, Elaine W. Shoben

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Is disparate impact a dead theory of employment discrimination? Definitely not. The theory itself has a more stable legal status than it did when the Supreme Court embraced it in its 1971 opinion Griggs v. Duke Power Co. But is it thriving in litigation? It appears to be neither thriving nor dead. It has become a relatively less vital tool, compared with theories of intentional discrimination. Despite the heroic effort of Congress to keep the theory from destruction by the Supreme Court through its express codification in 1991, disparate impact litigation is not making a major impact in this …

Disparate Impact Discrimination: American Oddity Or Internationally Accepted Concept?, Elaine W. Shoben, Rosemary C. Hunter

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Griggs v. Duke Power Co. was a landmark United States decision because it recognized that barriers to equal employment opportunity need not be overt and that practices that appear neutral on their face may nonetheless have an unjustifiably exclusionary effect on protected groups. This American insight has not been lost on other Western legal systems in the context of their antidiscrimination statutes and opinions. This article explores the favorable reception that disparate impact analysis has had bother in other countries with similar legal heritages and in international law.

Despite the wide acceptance of disparate impact analysis in the international marketplace …

The Use Of Statistics To Prove Intentional Employment Discrimination, Elaine W. Shoben

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Two decades after the once fiery debate about the meaning of "discrimination" in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the issue has recently been rekindled. In simplest form, the question is whether the type of discrimination statutorily prohibited is only purposeful exclusions, or whether it includes unintended exclusions caused by tests or requirements that disproportionately affect a group defined by race, sex, or ethnicity. The Supreme Court's decision in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. resolved the question in one major area, thus causing the issue to lie dormant since 1971. Griggs held that liability under …

Probing The Discriminatory Effects Of Employee Selection Procedures With Disparate Impact Analysis Under Title Vii, Elaine W. Shoben

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Last term the Supreme Court handed down three decisions in which it defined with some precision the proper use of statistics in Title VII cases. Those decisions filled a void that had existed since Griggs v. Duke Power Co., but they left some questions unanswered. In this article Professor Shoben discusses those decisions and addresses the issues still unresolved. She proposes a structured framework for the systematic analysis of disparate impact cases that is consistent with, yet builds upon, the three recent decisions. In addition, Professor Shoben considers whether allowing a plaintiff to establish a prima facie case with …