There are two basic types of illegal discrimination: intentional bias and "disparate impact" discrimination. The second type of discrimination can be intentional, but it need not be. It is a type of discrimination where unnecessary employment barriers are put in the way of certain classes of people.
A classic example of disparate impact discrimination is the "unnecessary height requirement." A police department, for example, might wish to require all officers to be at least six feet tall. Even if the intent were neutral, such a requirement could be discriminatory if it unduly burdened one class of worker over another and served no objective, job-based need. Indeed, employee height requirements have often been found to cause a disparate impact against women.
