Example (3) – State Troopers – As with police departments, applying minimum size requirements to applicants for state trooper jobs violates Title VII, unless the respondent can establish that the requirements are necessary for the safe and efficient operation of its business. (See U.S. vmonwealth regarding Virginia, 454 F. Supp. 1077, 18 EPD ¶ 8779 (E.D. Va. 1978) which was decided under the 1973 Crime Control Act with reliance on the principles of Griggs v. Duke Electricity Co., 401 U.)
(c) Actual Ability or Agility Examination –
In other instances, instead of relying upon minimum proportional height/weight standards as a measure of strength, the respondents have abolished height and weight standards and have installed in their place physical ability tests. Harless v. Duck, 619 F.2d 611, 22 EPD ¶ 30,871 (6th Cir. 1980); Blake v. City of La, 595 F.2d 1367, 19 EPD ¶ 9251 (9th Cir. 1979). If the charging party can establish a prima facie case of discrimination by showing that the particular physical ability tests disproportionately excluded a protected group or class from employment, the burden shifts to the respondent to show that the requirements are a business necessity and bear a manifest relationship to the employment in question. Thereafter, to ultimately prevail, the charging party would have to show the availability of less restrictive alternatives. (For a further discussion of this and related problems, the EOS should consult the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures at 29 C.F.R. § 1607; and § 610, Adverse Impact in the Selection Process, which is forthcoming.)