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 Missouri, as in other states, employment discrimination is governed by both federal and state laws. Disparate impact refers to employment practices that, while neutral on their face, disproportionately affect members of a protected class and are not job-related or necessary to the operation of the business. Disparate treatment, on the other hand, involves treating an individual differently in their employment due to their membership in a protected class, which is intentional discrimination. Federal laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) prohibit both disparate impact and disparate treatment based on various protected characteristics. Missouri's own Human Rights Act also prohibits employment discrimination and aligns with federal standards to protect employees from both types of discrimination. Employers in Missouri must ensure that their employment practices do not create a disparate impact or involve disparate treatment of employees based on their protected characteristics.