Systemic discrimination—particularly challenging employers’ “discriminatory hiring barriers” (i.e., qualification standards)—forms the foundation of the OFCCP’s and EEOC’s strategic enforcement plans. Since announcing the shift to systemic discrimination in April, 2006, the EEOC has investigated and/or prosecuted numerous employers for using skill-based testing, criminal history information, and credit report scores to screen applicants. These EEOC prosecutions, however, have not stood up to the scrutiny of the litigation process, garnering summary dismissals and stinging rebukes from federal judges on the threshold element of any systemic case—i.e., whether the challenged practice has statistically significant adverse impact on any protected group. In fact, the arguments carrying the day in court are statistical, not “legal.”
In this lively webinar, Patrick Nooren, PhD of Biddle Consulting Group and Merrily Archer, Esq., M.S.W. of EEO Legal Solutions will
Provide insight into the OFCCP’s and EEOC’s focus on systemic discrimination;
Decrypt theoretical terms like “systemic discrimination” and “disparate impact” and explain where these problems crop up in everyday HR practice;
Analyze two recent landmark EEOC prosecutions—EEOC v. Freeman and EEOC v. Kaplan, and showcase what went well, particularly the arguments that persuaded the court;
Offer practical suggestions about how to avoid landing in the EEOC’s systemic discrimination crosshairs, including how to use BCGi’s free, online adverse impact calculator.
We hope you can join us!