Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
Supreme Court
401 U.S. 424 (1971)
Duke Power (defendant), which had openly excluded Black employees from all but its lowest-paid department before the Civil Rights Act took effect, began requiring a high school diploma for transfer to better departments starting in 1955, and added two general aptitude tests -- unrelated to actual job performance -- as additional requirements the day the Act took effect; Black employees (plaintiffs) challenged these requirements under Title VII, and though the lower courts found no discriminatory intent and equal application to Black and white employees, they rejected the claim that the tests' disproportionate exclusionary effect on Black employees violated the Act, prompting Supreme Court review.
Whether Title VII prohibits facially neutral employment policies that disproportionately exclude members of a protected group from employment opportunities, even absent discriminatory intent, unless the employer shows the policy is justified by business necessity.