What is Disparate Impact?
“Disparate impact” is a term used to describe the circumstance in which an apparently neutral criterion has a much more negative or exclusionary effect on members of a particular class. Example: paying market wage rates does not classify by category and appears as a neutral standard by which to pay employees. Except that $4.00 to cafeteria workers (mostly women) compared to $8.00 to janitors (mostly men) for comparable jobs creates a disparate impact that hurts and thus, discriminates. Example: a requirement that police officers must be 6 feet tall. Height does not classify by sex on its face but certainly guarantees that very few women will qualify, while a substantially greater number of men will qualify.
Related Questions
- Suppose the "two standard deviation" tests show no disparate impact. Does this mean that the RIF list would not support a disparate treatment charge either?
- Does the Lilly Ledbetter Act apply to both intentional discrimination and disparate impact claims?
- Does the disparate impact theory of liability apply to federal age discrimination claims?
