Discrimination in Yasni Exposé of James A. Burns

Focuses on the implications of the recent US Supreme Court decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, a case surrounding the use of tests and disparate impact. The Court’s ruling concerns the use of tests that have demonstrated disparate impact. On the one hand, using the results of those tests for hiring decisions may leave the employer open to a discrimination lawsuit from those in a minority group, but throwing the results out may leave the employer open to a discrimination lawsuit from those who would have been selected using those test results. The author provides some guidance for employers, but the end result is that employers that use a test that is subsequently found to produce adverse impact may find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Furthermore, this ruling applies to any organizational policies or practices, not just selection tests.

Feature: Employers who learn that a test or other selection device has a discriminatory impact on some employees now find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Using the test may lead to one kind of discrimination claim, while discarding the test may lead to another. That makes it more important than ever that employers think through the possible issues before using any test or selection device in making employment decisions. (9/2/2009)

In one of its most significant employment discrimination decisions in years, the U.S. Supreme Court held this week that if an employer discovers that

The Supreme Court has ruled that employees represented by a union cannot sue for age discrimination when their union and employer have agreed that any

Just a few days after starting its new session, Congress has moved to substantially expand employees’ rights and remedies in pay discrimination

The U.S. Supreme Court today held that 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (Section 1981), a law enacted just after the Civil War, which prohibits race discriminati

This post was written by James A. Burns, Jr. and Rachel C. Shim. By overwhelming margins, the House and Senate have passed legislation that will prohi