Griggs V. Duke Power Co.

Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424 (1971), was a court case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on December 14, 1970. It concerned employment discrimination and the adverse impact theory and was decided on March 8, 1971. It is generally considered the first case of its type.

The Supreme court ruled that the company's employment requirements did not pertain to applicants' ability to perform the job, and so was discriminating against African-American employees, even though the company had not intended it to do so. The judgment famously includes the line "Congress has now provided that tests or criteria for employment or promotion may not provide equality of opportunity merely in the sense of the fabled offer of milk to the stork and the fox."

Read more about Griggs V. Duke Power Co.:  Facts, Judgment, Significance

Famous quotes containing the words power co, duke and/or power:

    “Ours is the old, old story of every uprising race or class or order. The work of elevation must be wrought by ourselves or not at all.”
    —Frances Power Cobbe (1822–1904)

    “A fully equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts, and dukes are just as great a terror—and they last longer.”
    —David Lloyd George (1863–1945)

    “If variety is capable of filling every hour of the married state with the highest joy, then might it be said that Lord and Lady Dellwyn were completely blessed, for every idea that had the power of raising pleasure in the bosom of the one, depressed that of the other with sorrow and affliction.”
    —Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)