Labor Relations
Please outline the meaning of disparate treatment and impact? Include an example?
There are generally two types of employment discrimination claims, disparate treatment or disparate impact.
Disparate treatment Disparate Impact
-the worker seeks to prove the employer's discriminatory motive -there need not be proof of intentional discrimination
-recognized under the federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and have been used to challenge employment practices while on their face neutral, disparately impact those of certain race or gender
For example, requiring a high school diploma for some manual labor jobs has in the past been found to have a discriminatory disparate impact on certain minorities without being justified by a business necessity and therefore a violation of Title VII, albeit the employer had no discriminatory intent.
The Federal First Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from New Hampshire Federal Court, ruled in 1999 in the case of William Mullin v. Raytheon that disparate impact claims are not cognizable under the ADEA. In that particular case, Mullin challenged his demotion after years of service and the downgrading of his grade from Level 15 to a Level 12 after Raytheon through a corporate restructuring had Mullin in a job which was inconsistent with a Level 15 and was more appropriate to a Level 12, resulting in Mullin's salary being reduced by 10% in October 1995, with another scheduled 10% reduction to take place six months thereafter.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals found Raytheon had advanced a strong objectively verifiable set of reasons for consolidating operations, restructuring its workforce and downgrading Mullin: significant revenue loss stemming from massive defense department cutbacks, culminating in the reevaluation of all upper echelon salaried employees.
Mullin claimed that the corporate restructuring of Raytheon had a disparate impact on older workers who by their very nature had higher-grade levels...
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