DISPARATE TREATMENT

disparate treatment.The  practice,  esp.  in  employment,  of  intentionally  dealing  with  persons

differently  because  of  their  race,  sex,  national  origin,  age,  or  disability.  •  To  succeed  on  a

disparate-treatment  claim,  the  plaintiff  must  prove  that  the  defendant  acted  with  discriminatory

intent  or  motive.  [Cases:  Civil  Rights    1033,  1138.  C.J.S.  Civil  Rights  §§  18,  20,  23–24,  34,

39–40.]

“Claims  brought  on  behalf  of  a  group  of  employees  come  in  two  varieties:  claims  of

intentional  discrimination  (or  disparate  treatment)  and  claims  of  discriminatory  impact  (or

disparate  impact).  The  difference  between  these  types  of  claims  is  significant,  so  much  so  that

constitutional  law  only  recognizes claims of  disparate treatment,  not disparate impact. Yet these

two  kinds of claims resemble  one another,  especially  in  the statistical  evidence that the  plaintiff

must present in  order to establish liability…. [C]lass claims of  disparate treatment emphasize the

historical perspective and its negative conception of equality as colorblindness, while class claims

of  disparate impact emphasize the remedial perspective and its  goal of eliminating the effects of

past discrimination.” George Rutherglen, Employment Discrimination Law 56 (2001). [Blacks Law 8th]