Labor & Employment Law

From My LinkedIn Group: Statistical Analysis as Evidence in Employment Discrimination?

By charlesakrugel

A few days ago, on my LinkedIn Group, Charles Krugel’s Labor & Employment Law & Human Resources Practices Group, member Stephanie R Thomas, Ph.D., the owner of Thomas Econometrics in the Philadelphia, PA, area, posted an excellent examination of the use and importance of statistical analysis in disparate impact and disparate treatment discrimination cases.  I thought that this presentation and our accompanying LI group discussion would be an interesting post.

At the core of Stephanie’s presentation is the below Slideshare/Youtube presentation:

Additionally, there was some good back and forth discussion on my LI Group concerning the importance of statistical analysis.  Instead of summarizing the discussion, I’ve posted it in its entirety below:

Charles Krugel www.charlesakrugel.com ? This is great Stephanie! Thanks for posting it.  After watching your presentation, my impression is that statistical analysis may be more important for combatting class action certification than actual disparate impact discrimination.  Am I wrong?

Stephanie R Thomas, Ph.D. ? Statistical analysis has a role in class certification, disparate impact and disparate treatment cases. For class certification, statistics can be used to examine commonality and typicality – I have a separate presentation on this (http://www.slideshare.net/TheProactiveEmployer/examining-class-certification-issues-with-statistical-analysis).

For disparate impact claims, I see statistics as having two roles. First, you can statistically examine your employment practices (hiring, promotion, termination, requirements for a given position, etc.) with respect to various protected group definitions proactively to identify any potential problem areas before you get to the litigation stage. Second, in the litigation context, statistics can be used to examine the challenged policy or practice to determine if there is statistical support for the claim of disparate impact.

With respect to disparate treatment claims, statistics can be used to assess whether there is statistical support for the claim. The analysis for disparate treatment is typically more complex than for a claim of disparate impact, because of the need to carefully define comparator groups and similarly situated employee groupings. But statistics can be very useful in assessing the merits of disparate treatment claims.

Charles Krugel www.charlesakrugel.com ? Thanks again Stephanie!  The use of statistical analysis in disparate treatment claims is an interesting idea.

The reason that I wonder if statistical analysis is more beneficial at the class action certification stage of litigation, in disparate impact claims, is because that ruling lies with the judge not a jury. Whereas in a disparate treatment claim, the final determination of guilt or innocence is usually made by a jury.

In my opinion, it requires incredible communication skills to get statistical analysis across to a jury in a disparate treatment case. Obviously, on a case-by-case basis, it has to be determined whether and how to get this analysis across to a jury in a such a case.

Full post as published by Charles A. Krugel, Labor & Employment Law, HR Law on January 02, 2011 (boomark / email).