";s:4:"text";s:6087:" Under the Act, practices, procedures, or tests neutral on their face, and even neutral in terms of intent, cannot be maintained if they operate to 'freeze' the status quo of prior discriminatory employment practices.The Court of Appeals' opinion, and the partial dissent, agreed that, on the record in the present case, 'whites register far better on the Company's alternative requirements' than Negroes.Congress has now provided that tests or criteria for employment or promotion may not provide equality of opportunity merely in the sense of the fabled offer of milk to the stork and the fox.
Guide, 6139 (Feb. 19, 1970).
It has no applicability to the high school diploma requirement. After careful analysis a majority of that court concluded that a subjective test of the employer's intent should govern, particularly in a close case, and that in this case there was no showing of a discriminatory purpose in the adoption of the diploma and test requirements. United States Supreme Court. Senator Tower's original amendment provided in part that a test would be permissible 'if * * * in the case of any individual who is seeking employment with such employer, such test is designed to determine or predict whether such individual is suitable or trainable with respect to his employment in the particular business or enterprise involved * * *.' Diplomas and tests are useful servants, but Congress has mandated the commonsense proposition that they are not to become masters of reality.The Company contends that its general intelligence tests are specifically permitted by § 703(h) of the Act.The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, having enforcement responsibility, has issued guidelines interpreting § 703(h) to permit only the use of job-related tests.Section 703(h) was not contained in the House version of the Civil Rights Act but was added in the Senate during extended debate. 703. In September 1965 the Company began to permit incumbent employees who lacked a high school education to qualify for transfer from Labor or Coal Handling to an 'inside' job by passing two tests—the Wonderlic Personnel Test, which purports to measure general intelligence, and the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test.
'(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer * * * to give and to act upon the results of any professionally developed ability test provided that such test, its administration or action upon the results is not designed, intended or used to discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The District Court also concluded that Title VII was intended to be prospective only and, consequently, the impact of prior inequities was beyond the reach of corrective action authorized by the Act.The Court of Appeals was confronted with a question of first impression, as are we, concerning the meaning of Title VII. 124. The Act proscribes not only overt discrimination but also practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation. GRIGGS V. DUKE POWER COMPANY The Griggs decision is essentially the last chapter in the history of that portion of the Equal Employment Opportunity provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which reads in pertinent part as follows: [N]or shall it be an unlawful employment practice for an em-
Section 703 (h) was not contained in the House version of the Civil Rights Act but was added in the Senate during extended debate. A) high school diplomas were not related to success as a coal handler B) Duke Power Company intentionally discriminated based on race
Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971) On March 8, 1971, the Judicial Branch of the U.S. Government ruled on a landmark case, Griggs v. Duke Power Company, which helped to further define adverse impact. The Company's lack of discriminatory intent is suggested by special efforts to help the undereducated employees through Company financing of two-thirds the cost of tuition for high school training.
The amendment was then adopted.Nothing in the Act precludes the use of testing or measuring procedures; obviously they are useful.
