Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio

490 U.S. 642 (1989)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Wards Cove Packing Co. (D) was an Alaskan fish cannery business. Work done at D's businesses was seasonal. There were essentially two types of jobs here: cannery jobs (unskilled, low-paying jobs) and noncannery jobs (skilled and higher-paying). Filipino immigrants and Alaska natives tended to get the cannery jobs, and whites tended to get the noncannery jobs. A class of nonwhite cannery workers (P) filed an action under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. P claimed that D's hiring practices were discriminatory. The district court ruled that the disparity between the cannery workers' and noncannery workers' racial composition was a prima facie Title VII violation. The Ninth Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court granted review.