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Posted in Consumer & Class Action Blog, General Blog

Employment Tests as Pretext for Discrimination

March 6th, 2008 by John Campbell

By John Campbell and Brian Connolly

All the time, employers are searching for new and more effective ways to improve their employee selection process and to ensure that they promote the most qualified employees.  One method which employers have begun using more frequently in recent years to determine the skills of applicants and current employees is the employment screening test.  These tests, when used properly, allow companies to weed out bad hires and to identify those job applicants who would be the most valuable hires. 

However, some employers have implemented tests that result in discrimination, particularly against minority job applicants and employees.  As employee and applicant testing has become more common, so too have complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding the discriminatory impact such tests can have.  Many employee rights advocates, suggest that job testing should be carefully tailored to job functions to avoid an unfair result.  

Complaints have led to lawsuits.  In the 2007 case EEOC v. Ford Motor Co. and United Automobile Workers of America, the court ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay $1.6 million to settle the claims of black applicants who were unfairly rejected for employment after taking a discriminatory screening test.  Also in 2007, FedEx Corp. settled a suit for $54.9 million that alleged discrimination in a “Basic Skills Test” that FedEx required its employees to take in order to gain a promotion.

Whether a company uses a test for the specific purpose of impermissibly screening out individuals or whether the test, without intent, results in an unequal reduction of minorities, women or the disabled, a potential claim against the employer may be present.

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