Disparate Impact
Disparate impact is a methodology for establishing that an employer has engaged in discrimination against a specific group of employees or job applicants of the same race, ethnicity, religion or sex that does not require evidence that the employer intended to discriminate. In Smith v. City of Jackson, Mississippi, 125 S. Ct. 1536 (2005), the United States Supreme Court has held that claims under the ADEA may be brought under a disparate impact analysis.
In this case the city of Jackson Mississippi put into place a new pay plan for police officers and in revising its employee pay plan, the city granted raises to all police officers and police dispatchers in an attempt to bring their starting salaries up to the regional average. Officers with less than five years' service received proportionately greater raises than those with more seniority, and most officers over 40 had more than five years of service. A group of older officers, filed suit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), claiming that they were adversely affected by the plan because of their age. The District Court granted the City summary judgment. The Fifth Circuit affirmed that judgment ruling that disparate-impact claims are categorically unavailable under the ADEA. The decision of Fifth Circuit assumed that the facts alleged by the older officers would entitle them to relief under Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, which announced a disparate-impact theory of recovery for cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).
Smith v. City of Jackson, Mississippi, 125 S. Ct. 1536 (2005) was argued in front of the Supreme Court on November 3rd, 2004 and a decision was delivered on March 30th, 2005. Justice ...