ABSTRACT
When is discrimination illegal? This is a question with an evolving answer, changing not only as new protected classes are added, but also as time progresses. Both judicial and Congressional pronouncements have changed the face of employment discrimination law over the last 40 years, with changes occurring in the disparate treatment and disparate impact models of discrimination and the addition of the reasonable accommodation and hostile environment models of discrimination. Refinements in the law of discrimination do not necessarily reflect the current knowledge of the psychological processes underlying discrimination. Moreover, the research in I/O, HR, and other behavioral sciences is out of touch in several respects with the law. I demonstrate in this chapter that research in HR/OB and psychology has important implications for discrimination law, yielding opportunities for experts in these areas to inform the legal system on this important topic. I also note that researchers in these areas should be more mindful of legal reasoning—even statistical issues reflecting legal reasoning—so that some of their research can directly address questions of importance to the interpretation and enforcement of discrimination law.
