ABSTRACT

Adverse impact is a legal term that refers to a substantially different rate of selection for one group relative to another. In the context of equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws, one group is protected; the other is a majority group. The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1978) define adverse impact as follows:

A selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group which is less than four-fifths (or 80 percent) of the rate for the group with the highest rate will generally be regarded by Federal Enforcement Agencies as evidence of adverse impact, while a greater than four-fifths rate will generally not be regarded by Federal enforcement agencies as evidence of adverse impact. (Section 4D).