“Gross Statistical Disparities” as Evidence of a Pattern and Practice of Discrimination: Statistical versus Legal Signifi cance

The " pattern and practice " theory of discrimination is a linchpin of employment discrimination class actions. Because this theory alleges that discrimination is an employer's " standard operating procedure " — its usual, rather than its exceptional, way of doing business—it weaves together the many individual decisions affecting an employer's workforce into a pattern that a court can adjudicate in a single class-action proceeding.