BFOQ’s and \"business necessity\" sometimes serve as exceptions to the rule that

Question

BFOQ’s and "business necessity" sometimes serve as exceptions to the rule that you cannot discriminate in employment decisions.

1. Briefly discuss the difference between BFOQ and Business Necessity defenses.

2. Locate one real life case decision from a court or other tribunal where a BFOQ argument carried the day--or did not.

3. Locate one real life case decision where the argument “business necessity” carried the day – or did not.

4. Briefly summarize both cases and then explain why you agree or disagree with the decisions.

Use at least one HR/legal reference and here are a couple to get you started.

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/fighting-race-national-origin-discrimination-29672.html

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/reasonable-accommodation-religious-beliefs.html  

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/fighting-race-national-origin-discrimination-29672.html

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/reasonable-accommodation-religious-beliefs.html  

Explanation / Answer

1- Business necessity is the decision of an employer which is related to business and is based on the requirement of the business. It is also consistent with other such decisions. Discriminating an employee on the basis of age, sex, race or disability is against the law. BFOQ is bona fide occupational qualification is a quality that considered by the employers when hiring and retaining the employees. One of the example of bona fide qualification is mandatory retirement age for bus drivers and and pilots, considering the safety of the passengers.

2- A person filed a complaint against the employer for not giving him leave on his holy days. The employer refused to approve his leave without pay for Easter Monday. The person was told if he will not report in office on Monday, his services will be terminated. As the employee needed leave on Easter Monday, he did not come to work and his services were terminated. The Board of Injury found that the company had discriminated the employee and ordered to pay partial compensation for his deducted wages.

3-In a battery manufacturing firm, lead is the main ingredient. Lead is one of the harmful thing which has many health related risks. Women carrying fetus in her stomach gets affected the most by lead. When the number of women becoming pregnant exceeded, Safety Administration noted that lead levels exceeded in their blood and declared the situation as critical and hazardous for the health of women along with their children in the organization. Many people in the company including some members of feus protection policy, raised their voice against this policy saying that it is sex-discrimination and files a case against the company. The court heard both parties and later came to a decision that the policy was made as it was a business necessity.  

4-In the first case explained, the employee was terminated, however, he should have been given the leaves as per his holy days. It is an employee's right to get leaves on his festival days. The Board took the right decision by compensating him with the lost wages and penalizing the organization. It will set as an example for other organizations. In the second case, employees believed that the organization took wrong decision and they were discriminating, which was not correct. The organization took this decision considering the health of the employees including the women and their would be children. I agree with both the decisions took by management.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse B
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.