Uncovering Systemic Discrimination: Allowing Individual Challenges to a

Abstract

Despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the workplace remains a site of wide racial and gender disparities. Many employees today claim to experience more subtle forms of discrimination associated with informal systems of promotion, mentorship, and evaluation. Largely undocumented or unconscious, these "tap on the shoulder" practices suggest more than the exceptional instance of individual discrimination; they point to persistent, system-wide violations of Title VII and biased employment decisions stemming from "excessive subjectivity."