Griggs v. Duke Power
In the 1950s Duke Power's Dan River Steam Station in Draper, 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.
In 1955 the company added the requirement of a high school diploma for employment in any department other than Labor and offered to pay two-thirds of the high-school training tuition for employees without a diploma.
On July 2, 1965, the day the Civil Rights Act of 1964 took effect, Duke Power added two employment tests, which would allow employees without high-school diplomas to transfer to higher-paying departments. The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test was a test of mechanical aptitude, and the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test was an IQ test measuring general intelligence.
Blacks were almost ten times less likely than Whites to meet these new employment and transfer requirements. According to the 1960 Census, while 34% of White males in North Carolina had high-school diplomas, only 18% of Black males did. The disparities of aptitude tests were far greater; with the cutoffs set at the median for high-school graduates, 58% of Whites passed, compared to 6% of Blacks.
Why is the Griggs v. Duke Power Co. case so important?
The Griggs v. Duke Power Co. case is important because of its legacy. It was the first case in the United States Supreme Court to utilize the theory of disparate impact and its connections to Title VII labor laws. This case assisted in ending discrimination in the workplace.
Who was Willie Griggs?
Willie Griggs was a Black man who worked at Duke Power Co. after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. He found that the company unfairly limited Black employees to specific jobs and would not pay them well; further, requirements for promotions and raises were specific, unrelated to the work, and unrealistic to achieve. He filed a lawsuit against the company to challenge these practices.
The other twelve (12) plaintiffs with Willie Griggs were: James Tucker, Herman Martin, William Purcell,
Clarence Jackson, Robert Jumper, Lewis Hairston Jr., Willie Boyd, Junior Blackstock, John Hatchett, Clarence Purcell, Eddie Galloway, and Eddie Broadnax.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co.: Background
Griggs v. Duke Power Co. was a case argued in the early 1970s and decided on March 8, 1971, by the United States Supreme Court. It began when Willie Griggs, a Black employee of Duke Power Co., along with several other Black co-workers, found that the company requirements to transfer between departments were unethical.
These requirements, although altered since, had a pre-civil rights era rule that Black employees were only allowed to work in their labor department, even though the company had numerous other departments. In comparison to these other departments, the pay for a position in the labor department was not equitable; labor employees often were paid a fraction of what other employees were paid in departments where Black employees were not allowed to work.
After the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this rule ended, though it was replaced with a very specific set of rules for employee transfers between departments. The new rules stated that employees wishing to transfer (or people newly seeking a job in the company) must have earned a high school diploma OR must pass two tests: one based on general intelligence, and the other an aptitude test. Duke Power had a long history of segregating employees by race.
At the Steam Station, the best jobs were reserved for Whites. African Americans were relegated to the labor department, where the highest-paid worker earned less than the lowest-paid employee in the other four departments where only Whites worked.
Many American men at this time did not hold high school diplomas, though Black men held disproportionately fewer high school diplomas than their white counterparts. Griggs and his team questioned the two tests and found that neither test was applicable to job duties in these other departments or to their potential performance in a role.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund represented Griggs in this case. They argued that Black employees were at a major disadvantage due to their lower likelihood to have a high school diploma and subsequent less success in passing the given tests. In addition, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund used the tests against Duke Power, insisting that such tests should not be used to hire someone in another department; the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund further stated that the tests had no direct relation to those departments/jobs and therefore seemed rather arbitrary.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects people from being discriminated against in the workplace based on sex, race, gender, or nationality. As the Civil Rights Act was not widely enforced until 1965, many courts did not rule based on company practices in use prior to this time. Prior to the establishment of the rule that Griggs argued against in this case, during the 1950s the company had a rule that explicitly limited positions Black employees could hold in the company.
This rule only allowed Black employees to work in one of the four total departments at the company. By the time the Civil Rights Act was passed, the limiting rule for Black employees was no longer a proper rule, though Black employees were still treated as though it remained in effect, leading to Griggs' pursuit of justice.
The 1950s-era rule was outside of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for this case because it occurred before the Civil Rights Act was enacted. However, Griggs and his team still brought forth evidence of this policy in the case, as it established a long history of discriminatory treatment against Black individuals within the company. This rule, they argued, was a strong basis for discrimination that continued after the Civil Rights Act passed.
Title VII has specific guidelines as well regarding tests that became relevant during this case. The Supreme Court decided that tests are allowed to be given to employees, but that they must be based on specific job duties.
Since the tests administered by Duke Power Co. at this time were not relevant to the job position(s) in question, they were in major violation of this act.
Source: https://law.justia.com/.../appellate.../F2/420/1225/307832/
Source: https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/griggs-v-duke-power-co/
Source: https://northcarolinahistory.org/enc.../griggs-v-duke-power/
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griggs_v._Duke_Power_Co.
Source: https://study.com/.../griggs-v-duke-power-co-case-summary...