Discrimination: The Watson V. Fort Worth Bank Case

Discrimination can be manifested in the workplace in countless ways, although, it can also be deceptive. According to Bennett-Alexander & Hartman (2015), “if the most efficient method of hiring adopted because it is the most efficient…just happens to produce a workforce whose racial or religious or ethnic or national-origin or gender composition pleases the employer, this is not intentional discrimination” (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2015, p. 144). However, if this case was based on disparate impact then, the employer could be held liable per Title VII for discrimination (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2015). Therefore, on its face some employees may believe that the employers are being discriminatory, however, discrimination is determined

Fort Worth Bank case, where an African-American, who had worked for the bank for years was passed over for promotions, and instead whites were placed in such positions (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2015). In this case, the employee filed a disparate impact claim, where the Supreme Court held that the disparate impact, under the Fourteenth amendment equal protection clause, analysis could be used in determining illegal discrimination in the subjective criteria cases (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman,

79). In this case, the employer can seek to prove via the four-fifths rule, via “the minority must do at least 80 percent, or four-fifths as well as the majority on a screening device or a presumption of disparate impact arises, and the device must then be shown to be a legitimate business necessity” (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2015, p. 70). Such as in the case of Ricci v. Destefano in 2003 tried to prove that minorities were at a disadvantage according to test results that seemed to favor whites for job promotions (Griffin, Sullivan, and Robertson, 2010). In this case, the judge was in favor of the employer maintaining such screening disparate impact device. As the employer was able to demonstrate that the exam had a legitimate purpose and business necessity (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2015). Thus, this is suggestive that in some instances that testing is a necessity in order to select the most appropriate and qualified candidate. Even if that means, that certain groups based on color or race may be at a