The lawsuit puts to test the ''Implicit Bias'' theory based on the ''Implicit Association Test'' developed by Greenwald and other scientists to test racial biases. The implicit association test and accompanying research found that there was an inherent preference for whites over blacks in a major 80% of subjects many of who do not believe that they sport racial bias.
The 6000 plaintiffs claim that they had been passed over for promotions and jobs in the state government from 2003.
Thomas Newkirk, a class attorney, said that scientific evidence shows that disadvantaged groups face employment discrimination in subtle ways.
In a trial last fall, experts testified that African-Americans were recruited in state jobs at lower pay, lower initial salaries, and poorer evaluations than whites with similar qualifications.
The lawsuit sought lost wages amounting to $67 million by initial estimates.
While lawyers on behalf of Iowa State cited the U.S. Supreme court decision and asked for the case to be dismissed, the high court refused to reject the theory of implicit bias outright, and the dissenting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that such claims can be admitted by the court.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs said that the problem of subtle discrimination was not a problem unique to Iowa, but Iowa was the right place to ask society to take control of this important issue fairly for all races, and to seek a better future for all as a result.
