This case became a situation when The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1965. African Americans working at Duke Power Company before the act were only allowed to work in the labor department as to where others were “whites only”. During that time frame I assume was very common for practices such like this. After the act was passed, Duke changed their policy which “whites only” doesn’t apply anymore, but requiring them to have a high school diploma along with passing their aptitude test. I can agree favoring both parties, but I would lean more towards Griggs, because of the unfair circumstances put in place.
As I stated in the discussion, I felt that this was more involving a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act prohibits employers from discriminating against individual because if their race, color, religion, sex or national origin (Textbook p.66). It became obvious that the testing was put in place because of the new act, but I think because it doesn’t show intent to measure the ability for doing that job that it should be invalid. African Americans were being unfair because of the test that measure more intelligence instead of the ability to perform the job. This would fall under a bone fide occupational qualification, which is a necessary qualification for “performing” a job (p.77).
A disparate impact was another way that showed potential discrimination by them when they offered promotions mainly within the departments, which can reduce well-qualified candidates who may be better fit for the job (p.77). The four-fifths rule could also be argue because the hiring rate for the minority group is less than four-fifths the hiring rate for the majority group in other departments, but more evidence would need to be known first. (p.77)
Another strong point Griggs could argue is “Disparate Treatment” which includes hiring or promoting one person over an equally qualified person because of the individual’s race (p.76). Also the fairness in testing, where Duke Power would have to demonstrate that a diploma or their test requirements will show a relationship to the job performance.
My ruling would be to favor Griggs because of the unfairness of their job requirements. They required a high school diploma and both the intelligence tests, which neither would show the ability of that person performing that job. The court should measure the unfairness African Americans were against, because of the unreasonable requirement Duke Power’s put in place for them. I rule this was a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.