Disparate impact and disparate treatment refer to discriminatory employment practices. The distinction between these two types of discriminatory practices often focuses on the employer’s intent.

Disparate impact is often referred to as unintentional discrimination and disparate treatment is often referred to as intentional discrimination. The terms adverse impact and adverse treatment are sometimes used in place of disparate impact and disparate treatment.

Disparate impact occurs when policies, practices, rules, or other processes that appear to be neutral result in a disproportionate impact on a protected group of persons.

For example, testing all applicants and using results from that test that will unintentionally eliminate certain minority applicants disproportionately is disparate impact. And testing a particular skill of only certain minority applicants is disparate treatment.

Federal laws prohibit job discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, religion, age, military status, equal pay, pregnancy, disability, or genetic information and prohibit both disparate treatment and disparate impact discrimination.


In Connecticut, both disparate impact and disparate treatment are recognized forms of employment discrimination that are prohibited under federal and state laws. Disparate impact refers to employment practices that, while neutral on their face, disproportionately affect members of a protected class, such as a specific race or gender, without a business necessity. An example is a standardized test that unintentionally screens out a higher percentage of minority candidates. Disparate treatment, on the other hand, involves intentional discrimination where an employer treats an individual or group differently based on their protected characteristic, like only requiring certain minority applicants to pass a specific test. Federal laws, including the Civil Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, prohibit both types of discrimination. Connecticut state law also mirrors these protections and is enforced by the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO). The CHRO investigates complaints of discrimination in employment and works to enforce state statutes that align with federal laws to protect employees from both disparate impact and disparate treatment.