Griggs v. Duke Power Co.

401 U.S. 424 Supreme Court 1971

equalitycannot be maintained ifdiscriminatorypracticesdirectly traceable to racemanifestininferior education in segregated schools, … to vote indirectly on account of race. Congress did not intend by Title VII, however, to guarantee a job to every person regardless of qualifications. In short, the Act does not command that any Page 401 U. S. 431 person be hired simply because he was formerly the subject of discrimination, or because he is a member of a minority group. Discriminatory preference for any group, minority or majority, is preciselyandarbitrary, and unnecessary barriers to employment … seeker be taken into account. It has -- to resort again to the fable -- provided that the vessel in which the milk is proffered be one all seekers can use. The Act proscribes not only overt discrimination, but also practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation. The touchstone is business necessity. If an employment practice which operates to exclude Negroes cannot be shown to be related to job performance, the practice is

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In the 1950s, Duke Power’s Dan River Steam Station in North Carolina had a policy restricting Black employees to its “Labor” department, where the highest-paying position paid less than the lowest-paying position in the four other departments.

While the company argued there was no discriminatory intent, Griggs maintained that Duke’s policy discriminated against Black employees in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act based on the disparate impact of the policy and not simply its motivation.

The Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits not only intentional job discrimination but also employer practices that have a discriminatory effect on minorities and women. In the ruling, Justice Burger famously cited an Aesop’s fable, writing, "Congress has now provided that tests or criteria for employment or promotion may not provide equality of opportunity merely in the sense of the fabled offer of milk to the stork and the fox.”