What type of discrimination occurs when an employer has a policy that applies to everyone but disproportionately affects a protected group?

Disparate impact discrimination is a legal term that refers to a situation where an employer’s neutral policy or practice, which is applied uniformly to all employees, has a disproportionate adverse effect on a protected group. This means that even though the policy is not intended to discriminate against any particular group, it results in a significant disadvantage to that group compared to others.

To establish a claim of disparate impact, it is not necessary to prove the employer's intent to discriminate. Instead, the focus is on the consequences of the policy's implementation. For example, if a company has a hiring criterion that all applicants must meet a specific educational requirement that is not clearly relevant to the job duties, this can disproportionately exclude candidates from certain racial or ethnic backgrounds, hence demonstrating disparate impact.

Understanding this concept is crucial in employment law because it highlights how seemingly neutral policies can perpetuate inequality in the workplace, allowing individuals from disadvantaged groups to challenge such policies if they can show the disparate impact of the rules in question.