Disparate Impact is the social justice legalese term when an innocuous process or qualification standard disqualifies minority applicants at a higher rate than non-minorities.
‘Legal work status’ for employment eligibility is another insane example of applying “disparate impact” rules. Because, as the theory applies, Hispanics are disqualified from employment at a greater rate than non-Hispanics -when employment eligibility is reviewed- it is therefore unlawful to use a standard of a social security number check (for eligible employment authenticity) when considering job applicants. 
Holder+Duncan+Address+Youth+Violence+Chicago+xjeTGo8gtb9lIn essence, this is why progressives don’t like “card-check” systems; and, in a more broad sense this is why President Obama tried to institute employment eligibility in his Executive action last fall. 
Any qualification standard that adversely impacts minorities more than non-minorities is considered racist; the same applies to testing candidates. 
(Via Daily Caller) A federal judge in New York has struck down a test used by New York City to vet potential teachers, finding the test of knowledge illegally discriminated against racial minorities due to their lower scores.
At first glance, the city’s second Liberal Arts and Science Test (LAST-2) seems fairly innocuous. Unlike the unfair literacy tests of Jim Crow, LAST-2 was given to every teaching candidate in New York, and it was simply a test to make sure that teachers had a basic high school-level understanding of both the liberal arts and the sciences.
One sample question from the test asked prospective educators to identify the mathematical principle of a linear relationship when given four examples; another asked them to read four passages from the Constitution and identify which illustrated checks and balances. Besides factual knowledge, the test also checks basic academic skills, such as reading comprehension and the ability to read basic charts and graphs.
Nevertheless, this apparently neutral subject matter contained an insidious kernel of racism, because Hispanic and black applicants had a passage rate only 54 to 75 percent of the passage rate for whites.
Once their higher failure rate was established, the burden shifted to New York to prove that LAST-2 measured skills that were essential for teachers and therefore was justified in having a racially unequal outcome. While it might seem obvious that possessing basic subject knowledge is a key skill for a teacher, District Judge Kimba Wood said the state hadn’t met that burden.  (read more)

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