A federal appeals court has ruled that a pre-employment strength test administered to applicants for jobs at Dial Corporation’s Armour Star sausage-making plant in Fort Madison, Iowa, discriminated against women. The decision upholds a lower court ruling last year ordering Dial to pay $3 million to a group of women who were rejected for hire because they failed the strength test.
The case, filed as a class action, challenged the company’s administration of a seven-minute Work Tolerance Screen. The test required an applicant to carry 35-pound weights back and forth, lifting them to heights of 35 and 65 inches. While more than 95 percent of male applicants passed the test, fewer than 40 percent of female applicants passed it.
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At trial, an expert for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission testified that the test was significantly more difficult than the actual job workers performed at the plant. Evidence also showed that before the test was introduced 46 percent of the new hires were women, but female hires plunged to 15 percent after the test was implemented.
Dial argued that the test effectively measured skills that were representative of the actual job. The company also contended that the test was necessary for business reasons because it drastically reduced the number of injuries in the sausage production area of the plant.
The appeals court, however, found that Dial failed to prove the test was necessary for business reasons or that other safety measures couldn’t produce the same results.
Additional Resources:
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Dial Corp., U.S.C.A. 8th Cir. Nos. 05-4183/4311, 2006