Topic: This article is about the court case, Griggs v. Duke Power Co. In accordance with Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employees at Duke Power challenged the company’s
discriminatory job requirements of a high school diploma and scores on aptitude tests.
Relevant Information Included Related to the Topic:
Duke Power Co. had a policy that African Americans would be allowed to work only in its labor
department, which was the lowest paying job. After Duke Power abandoned this policy, the
company added that a high school education and scores on aptitude tests were the new
requirements for being allocated to the other four departments. Since this put African Americans
at a disadvantage to whites in the company’s hiring and advancement, the case proved the
purpose of these requirements was to protect Duke’s long-standing policy of giving job
preferences to its white employees. The court ruled that an employer may not use a job
requirement that functionally excludes members of a certain race if it has no relation to
measuring performance of job duties.
Information Missing: The case mentioned that this amendment to Title VII wanted to prevent
discrimination that could exist under the guise of compliance, however it never fully explained
the notion of disparate impact. Disparate impact is often referred to as unintentional
discrimination, which is what occurred in this case. The article didn’t mention that this was the
first case in the United States Supreme Court to utilize the theory of disparate impact and its
connections to Title VII labor laws.
Suggestions for Moving Forward:
1. Be more considerate of unintentional bias and discrimination within hiring practices.
2. Train Human Resources managers and all employees on EEO laws.
3. Promote an inclusive workplace by creating a culture of respect for personal differences.
Recommendation you would make: I would choose the second recommendation. Training
managers on these laws helps to create an ongoing culture that doesn’t accept any kind of
discriminatory behavior.
Pros and Cons of Recommendation:
Pros Cons
Protects employees from workplace
discrimination
There is still some unconscious biases that
employees might not recognize
Promotes respect amongst employees. Ineffective teaching methods might not fully
get the point across.
Prevents serious or legal issues from arising. Employees could go through this training, but
not retain what is being taught.
