Page:Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc.pdf/13

Rh §703(a)(2) does not prohibit hiring criteria with a "manifest relationship" to job performance. Id., at 432; see also Ricci, 557 U. S., at 587–589 (emphasizing the importance of the business necessity defense to disparate-impact liability). On the facts before it, the Court in Griggs found a violation of Title VII because the employer could not establish that high school diplomas and general intelligence tests were related to the job performance of its manual laborers. See 401 U. S., at 431–432.

The second relevant statute that bears on the proper interpretation of the FHA is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 81 Stat. 602 et seq., as amended. Section 4(a) of the ADEA provides:

"It shall be unlawful for an employer—

"(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s age;

"(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's age; or

"(3) to reduce the wage rate of any employee in order to comply with this chapter.” 29 U. S. C. §623(a).

The Court first addressed whether this provision allows disparate-impact claims in Smith v. City of Jackson, 544 U. S. 228 (2005). There, a group of older employees challenged their employer’s decision to give proportionately greater raises to employees with less than five years of experience.

Explaining that Griggs "represented the better reading of [Title VII’s] statutory text," 544 U. S., at 235, a plurality of the Court concluded that the same reasoning pertained