Psychological Test Given Prior To Promotion May Be Discriminatory

Retail giant Target Corporation has just agreed to pay $2.8 million to settle an employment discrimination complaint. The race and disability discrimination lawsuit alleged that applicants for upper level jobs were improperly screened out. According to the complaint, the tests given to candidates were not sufficiently neutral. Instead, the tests disproportionately screened out women, Asians and Black people.

Further, a second assessment conducted by psychologists on behalf of Target amounted to a pre-employment medical exam which is illegal under the ADA.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes various types of workplace discrimination illegal. This includes allowing race, color, sex, national origin or religion to factor into employment decisions such as hiring, firing, or promoting. Similarly the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment (ADAAA) prohibit discrimination based on a disability or perceived disability.

Sometimes discrimination isn’t overt, but rather is the result of a policy or as in this situation – a test – that has a discriminatory impact. Here – the tests were allegedly not sufficiently work related and resulted in an adverse impact on individuals in protected employment classes.

The money recovered in the settlement will go to more than 3000 job candidates who were rejected for upper levels as the result of the discriminatory screening tests.

For more information or if you believe that you may have suffered any form of employment discrimination – whether you have been fired, not hired or not promoted – please contact the experienced Atlanta discrimination lawyers at Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP for an immediate case evaluation.