Illinois Bill to Ban Disparate Impact Job Bias Goes to Pritzker

Illinois will explicitly ban employers’ use of criteria that subject workers to discriminatory effects under legislation headed to Gov. JB Pritzker (D)—a nod to “disparate impact” language in federal law that the Trump administration has backed off enforcing.

The legislation (SB 3777) revises the state’s human rights law to bar “criteria and methods” that result in discrimination. Similar to the language in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, employers can defeat bias claims under this standard by showing their selection criteria serve a legitimate business purpose that couldn’t be met through a less-discriminatory means.

If enacted, ...