an employee's religious belief can qualify as a bona fide occupational qualification in narrow contexts.
an employee's religious belief can qualify as a bona fide occupational qualification in narrow contexts.
when can an employee's religious belief qualify as a bona fide occupational qualification?
in narrow contexts
one example of "bona fide" occupational qualifications are mandatory retirement ages for bus drivers and airline pilots, for safety reasons. further, in advertising, a manufacturer of men's clothing may lawfully advertise for male models. religious belief may also be considered a bfoq; for example, a religious school may lawfully require that members of its faculty be members of that denomination, and may lawfully bar from employment anyone who is not a member. fire departments can require firemen to be able to lift a given weight to demonstrate that they will be able to carry fire victims out of a burning building.
bona fide occupational qualification
in very narrowly defined situations, an employer is permitted to discriminate on the basis of a protected trait where the trait is a bona fide occupational qualification (bfoq) reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise. to prove the bona fide occupational qualifications defense, an employer must prove three elements: a direct relationship between the protected trait and the ability to perform the duties of the job, the bfoq relates to the "essence" or "central mission of the employer's business", and there is no less-restrictive or reasonable alternative ("united automobile workers v. johnson controls, inc.", 111 s.ct. 1196). the bona fide occupational qualification exception is an extremely narrow exception to the general prohibition of discrimination based on protected traits ("dothard v. rawlinson", 97 s.ct. 2720). an employer or customer's preference for an individual of a particular religion is not sufficient to establish a bona fide occupational qualification ("equal employment opportunity commission v. kamehameha school — bishop estate", 990 f.2d 458 (9th cir. 1993)).
civil rights act of 1964