Answer Happy

Employers use various defenses against discriminationallegations. Here employers need to distinguish betweendisparate treatment (intentional discrimination) and disparateimpact (a policy that has an adverse impact regardlessof intent). Plaintiffs show adverse impact by the standarddeviation rule or by showing disparate rejection rates, restrictedpolicy, or population comparisons, or by applying the McDonnellDouglas test. Employers defend themselves by showing that theemployment practice is a bona fide occupational qualification (forinstance, gender is a BFOQ for a position such as model).Or theymay defend themselves by using the business necessity defense,which requires show- ing that there is an overriding businesspurpose. Given all this, the manager needs a working knowledgeof discriminatory employment prac- tices. For example, inrecruitment, employers no longer use “help wanted—male” ads.