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BFOQs. BFOQs. Title VII does not prohibit “bona fide occupational qualifications Or discriminatory practices whenever these practices are “reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the organization”. BFOQ.
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BFOQs • Title VII does not prohibit “bona fide occupational qualifications • Or discriminatory practices whenever these practices are “reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the organization”
BFOQ • For example, A BFOQ which excludes one group (e.g., males or females) from an employment opportunity is permissible if the employer can argue that the “essence of the business” requires the exclusion, that is, when business would be significantly affected by no employing members of one group exclusively.
BFOQ • Pan Am presented data which showed that a majority of its customers preferred female flight attendants, stating that not hiring males was done for important business reasons. • Federal appellate court ruled that customer preference was not a legally defensible reason for discrimination.
BFOQ • The court further stated that discrimination based on sex is valid only when the essence of the business would be undermined by not hiring members of one sex exclusively. • Another case—Johnson Controls Inc. (a car battery manufacturer) excluded women of child-bearing years from jobs where there was high exposure to lead and possible harm to the unborn fetus. The company argued that this policy falls with the BFOQ exception to Title VII because it is essential to a safe workplace.
BFOQ • United Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc. the Supreme Court disagreed. The court found that such fetal protection policies, used at one time over a dozen large companies are a form of sex discrimination in violation of Title VII • The High Court emphasized that the BFOQ exception applies only to a policy which involves the “essence of the business”, such as worker or customer safety, not the safety of an unborn fetus
BFOQ • “Women who are as capable of doing their jobs as their male counterparts may not be forced to choose between having a child and having a job,” the Court said in its majority ruling against Johnson Controls.
BFOQ • In general, the position of the courts regarding BFOQs clearly favors judgments about the performance, abilities, or potential of specific individuals rather than discrimination by class or categories. The court has said that the BFOQ exception to Title VII is a narrow one, limited to policies that are directly related to a worker’s ability to do the job.
