Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
- Decided
- March 8, 1971
- Docket
- 124
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,596 timesOverruled (not yet verified)Possible negative treatment: overruled, overruled on other grounds (not yet verified) · Jeremiah L. Jones v. Town of Lumberport, West Virginia, a political subdivision of West Virginia
What later courts said
- holding that Title VII “proscribes not only overt discrimination but also practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation” — William MULLIN, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. RAYTHEON COMPANY, Defendant, Appellee (1999)
- holding that employment practices which are neutral in form but which result in discriminatory effects are prohibited unless justified by business necessity — (untitled) (1996)
- holding that disparate impact claims are directed at “the consequences of employment practices, not simply the motivation” — Janet Stout Juliana Nedd Sheila Wright Lee Harrison v. John E. Potter, Postmaster General (2002)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Mr. Chief Justice Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.
We granted the writ in this case to resolve the question whether an employer is prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, from requiring a high school edu [*426] cation or passing of a standardized general intelligence test as a condition of employment in or transfer to jobs when (a) neither standard is shown to be significantly related to successful job performance, (b) both requirements operate to disqualify Negroes at a substantially higher rate than white applicants, and (c) the jobs in question formerly had been filled only by white employees as part of a longstanding practice of giving preference to whites. [1]
Congress provided, in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for class actions for enforcement of provisions of the Act and this proceeding was brought by a group of incumbent Negro employees against Duke Power Company. All the petitioners are employed at the Company’s Dan River Steam Station, a power generating facility located at Draper, North Carolina. At the time this action was instituted, the Company had 95 employees at the Dan River Station, 14 of whom were Negroes; 13 of these are petitioners here.
Statutes cited
Cite this
Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424 (1971)Read the full opinion
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