Appeals Court Upholds EEOC Sex Discrimination Claim

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision that a pre-employment “strength test” discriminated against female applicants for jobs at the Dial Corporation's Armour Star sausage-making plant in Fort Madison, Iowa. The decision also affirmed the award of approximately $3.3 million to 52 rejected female job applicants. The case arose from a lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of the discrimination victims.

The unanimous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in Case Nos. 05-4183 and 05-4311, authored by Judge Diana E. Murphy and issued on November 17, approved the findings of U.S. District Judge Ronald E. Longstaff that the test had a disparate impact against women. The decision also upheld a jury's finding that after the second year, continued use of the test amounted to intentional discrimination against women.

The seven-minute test required the applicant to carry 35-pound weights back and forth, lifting them to heights of 35 and 65 inches. More than 95% of male applicants passed the test, but fewer than 40% of female applicants passed it. Prior to January 2000, when the test was implemented, approximately half of newly hired workers in the plant were women.

The court also found that although the test resembled the job in some respects, it was in fact more difficult than the job, and that Dial had not shown that test achieved its stated purpose of reducing injuries. Read more at eeoc.gov