Flunking Job Tests

Two men caught 36 fish. X caught 8 times as many as Y. How many fish did Y catch?

Though many fishermen and most high school graduates could answer "four" in a flash, it was not so easy for 13 black laborers in North Carolina who wanted the Duke Power Co. to promote them to coal handlers. In fact, the company insisted that they take a general intelligence test full of verbal and mathematical puzzles. The men scored low and remained where they were.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the test amounted to unlawful racial discrimination. The record showed that Duke had employed blacks only in menial tasks before the 1964 Civil Rights Act took effect. As soon as it did, a group of blacks sought better jobs and were promptly confronted by a battery of promotion requirements. Workers had to have either a high school diploma or pass the intelligence test, which obviously had little to do with a man's ability to unload coal. The 13 blacks failed the test but were smart enough to challenge the legality of the screening process. Represented by the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense Fund, they argued that the tests illegally excluded them from promotion.

In his majority opinion, Chief Justice Warren Burger gave the plaintiffs the broad interpretation of the Civil Rights Act that they had hoped for. "What Congress has commanded," he said, "is that any tests used must measure the person for the job and not the person in the abstract." Burger noted that even general intelligence tests that seemed neutral could work against blacks. "The touchstone is business necessity," he said. "If an employment practice which operates to exclude Negroes cannot be shown to be related to job performance, the practice is prohibited."

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