Many employment decision systems (e.g., hiring, promotion, termination, etc.) intended to measure job-relevant factors also tend to result in differences in employment outcomes across racial/ethnic, sex and age groups. These statistical disparities, or adverse impact, serve as evidence in many equal employment opportunity (EEO) scenarios. These may include OFCCP audits, EEOC investigations, private employment discrimination lawsuits, and proactive affirmative action plan analytics.
These disparities do not, by themselves, prove illegal discrimination, but may create an obligation for the employer to explain existing disparities or to justify the use of procedures that cause impact and consider reasonable alternatives. If those procedures cannot be explained or justified in some fashion, they may be discriminatory. On the other hand, if adverse impact cannot be established, it is unlikely that those practices can be alleged as discriminatory.
This website is intended to help practitioners in the EEO/AA and human resource management communities become more familiar with contemporary adverse impact measurement and the various contextual factors that may affect the appropriateness of analyses. Toward that end, this website includes the following pages:
