bona fide occupational qualification

A factor used to determine whether a person can be employed1 in an position based on a parameter (e.g., the person’s sex) that might otherwise be viewed as discriminatory—e.g., the hiring by an airline of a female for the position of flight attendant is not acceptable either because the company assumes that females are more caring and effective in soothing passengers, or because the airline wishes to project a more “attractive” image, whereas on the other hand, a person’s sex can be viewed as a BFOQ in some certain situations, such as hiring male guards over female guards in an understaffed high-security male prison which has a high number of sex offenders.

References in periodicals archive

In a 3-1 decision, the EEOC Commissioners ruled as a result of the September 1967 hearings that female sex was not a bona fide occupational qualification for the job of flight attendant.

"Sex as a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification for Stewardesses: Statement of United Air Lines." April 22, 1966.

Male stewardesses: male flight attendants as a queer miscarriage of justice

Supreme Court described this prohibition in 1989 as "...the simple but momentous announcement that sex, race, religion, and national origin are not relevant to the selection, evaluation, or compensation of employees."(4) Put another way, Title VII prohibits employers from taking race, color, national origin, religion, or sex into consideration when making decisions on employment actions, regardless of their motives, unless an exception to the statute, such as preference to remedy past discrimination (affirmative action) or the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) exception, permitting such consideration is applicable.(5)

Preferences in hiring and promotion: courts impose heightened scrutiny

(5)Title VII does not define the phrase "bona fide occupational qualification." Instead, it simply states that "it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to hire and employ employees ...

Traditional labor relations

1981)(restaurant chain's no-beard policy did not violate Sikh employee's title VII religious rights because clean-shavenness was a bona fide occupational qualification for manager of a restaurant).

Grooming and weight standards for law enforcement: the legal issues

"I don't think it's related to their bona fide occupational qualifications."

Guess who's looking at your Web page: college-admissions officials and employers are starting to check out candidates on Web sites like Facebook and MySpace

It is hypothesized that individuals working in occupations with strict physical requirements (including bona fide occupational qualifications) would more easily recognize the need to consider less physically demanding occupations as they move into later career stages (Brewington & Nassar-McMillan, 2000).

Applying image norms across Super's career development stages

She provides an overview of human rights rulings and discusses three fundamental concepts in human tights law: the duty to accommodate, bona fide occupational qualifications, and the distinction between direct and indirect discrimination.

Focusing on the Future: Seeking Legal and Policy Solutions in Education