U. S. Supreme Court Rules Against The City of Chicago
Many firms have blogged about the most recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Lewis v. City of Chicago No. 08-974 (May 24, 2010) including Ford & Harrison and Jackson Lewis.
In Lewis, the City of Chicago gave a written examination to applicants seeking positions with the city as firefighters. After the examination, the applicants with passing scores were categorized as “well qualified” or “qualified.” More than a year after receiving notice of the examination results, several African-American applicants who had been categorized by the City of Chicago as “qualified,” but had not been hired, filed discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Federal law required EEOC charges be brought within 300 days after the unlawful employment practice occurred. Lewis and others then filed suit against the City alleging, the City’s practice of selecting only applicants who scored 89 or above, categorized as “well qualified,” had a disparate impact on African-Americans in violation of Title VII. The City objected claiming the petitioners had not filed the EEOC charges within the required 300 days.
The issue before the U.S. Supreme court was, “[w]hether a plaintiff who does not filed a timely charge challenging the adoption of a practice – here, an employer’s decision to exclude employment applicants who did not achieve a certain score on an examination – may assert a disparate-impact claim in a timely charge challenging the employer’s later application of that practice.” The U.S. Supreme Court held, a plaintiff may timely challenge an employer’s later application of a practice, as long as he alleges each of the elements of a disparate-impact claim.
What is disparate impact? Disparate impact is defined as, “an unnecessary discriminatory effect on a protected class caused by an employment practice or policy that appears to be nondiscriminatory.” What is a protected class? A protected class is, “a group of people intended by a legislature to benefit from the protection of a statute.”
Since the enactment of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers have known they are prohibited from discriminating against an individual based on their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. However, as originally enacted, Title VII did not expressly prohibit employment practices that caused a disparate impact on individuals. In 1971, the United States Supreme Court first recognized “disparate impact” claims.
What does this decision mean for employers? It isn’t when a policy or practice is adopted that may start the time clock for discrimination or disparate-impact claims, but when the policy or practice is applied/used that is important.
