Disparate Impact

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Rosenfeld v. Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School, Inc., 226 Cal. App. 4th 886 (2014)

Ruth Rosenfeld sued the day school where she had worked as a teacher for 35 years after her hours were reduced and she was allegedly forced to resign. Rosenfeld asserted that age discrimination was a motivating factor in the reduction of her hours, though the school asserted that Rosenfeld’s hours…

Lopez v. Pacific Maritime Ass’n, 636 F.3d 1197 (2011)

When Santiago Lopez first applied to be a longshoreman in 1997, his application was rejected because he tested positive for marijuana. The PMA, which represents the shipping lines, stevedore companies and terminal operators that run the ports along the west coast, follows a “one-strike rule,” which eliminates from consideration for employment any applicant who tests…

McCaskey v. California State Auto. Ass’n, 189 Cal.App.4th 947 (2010)

Charles Luke, Francis McCaskey and John Mellen filed this lawsuit against CSAA, alleging breach of contract and age discrimination. The contract claim was based on an alleged breach by CSAA of a promise to permit senior sales agents to continue in their employ under relaxed sales quotas (minimum production requirements or “MPR’s”). Plaintiffs also alleged…

 Lewis v. City of Chicago, 560 U.S. ___, 130 S. Ct. 2191 (2010)

Plaintiffs in this case (more than 6,000 African-Americans) had applied to serve in the Chicago Fire Department. They challenged as discriminatory the city’s decision to hire only applicants who had scored 89 or above on a written examination. The city stipulated that the 89-point cutoff had a “severe disparate impact against African Americans,” but argued that the cutoff score was justified by business necessity. Although plaintiffs won at the district court level, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judgment on the ground that plaintiffs’ suit was untimely because the earliest EEOC charge was filed more than 300 days after the only discriminatory act – sorting the scores into the “well-qualified,” “qualified” and “not-qualified” categories.

Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557, 129 S.Ct. 2658 (2009)

One hundred eighteen firefighters took written examinations administered by the city of New Haven, Connecticut in order to qualify for promotion to the rank of lieutenant or captain. When the examination results showed that white candidates had outperformed minority candidates, the mayor and other local politicians opened a public debate that “turned rancorous.” Some…

Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. ___, 129 S. Ct. 2658 (2009)

One hundred eighteen firefighters took written examinations administered by the city of New Haven, Connecticut in order to qualify for promotion to the rank of lieutenant or captain. When the examination results showed that white candidates had outperformed minority candidates, the mayor and other local politicians opened a public debate that “turned rancorous.”…

Yesterday, in a highly anticipated 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Ricci v. DeStefano that the City of New Haven engaged in unlawful intentional race discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) when it discarded a firefighter promotional test because of the racial makeup of the successful test takers. The City claimed that the test had a disparate impact on minorities and that, if it certified the test results and proceeded with promotions, it would have been sued for discrimination by minority test takers. The Court held that the City had to show a strong basis in evidence that it would be liable in such a suit – something more than the statistical results of the test – in order to justify throwing out the test and discriminating against the successful test takers, most of whom were white. It further held that, upon its review of the factual record, the City could not meet this burden. Reversing the Second Circuit (which had affirmed the trial court decision), it found that summary judgment should be entered against the City. The factual background of the case, opinion of the Court and the implications of the case for employers are discussed below.

Smith v. City of Jackson, 544 U.S. 228, 125 S. Ct. 1536 (2005)

A group of police officers older than 40 challenged the decision of the City of Jackson, Mississippi to raise the starting salaries of officers with less than five years of seniority in order to bring starting salaries up to the regional average. Since officers with less than five years of seniority…