The 14th Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that all Americans are treated as equal individuals, not as members of a racial group. Yet for decades, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), using a legal theory known as disparate impact, pushed employers to do the opposite. Under disparate impact theory, an employer may be liable for using practices that have an adverse effect on members of one racial group, even if the employer did not intend to discriminate.
A recent opinion issued by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) holds that the EEOC's historical interpretation of disparate impact violated the Constitution. This opinion will help ensure that employers make decisions based on merit and not on skin color.
