Tony the new director of human resources and Edna the compen

Tony, the new director of human resources, and Edna, the compensation and benefits manager, are hanging employment legislation posters in RETREAT, the TEAM FUN! employee cafeteria. Edna offers, “I remember some woman who applied for a job to advertise men’s baseball gear and sued when she didn’t get the job. The EEOC said she had no case. A couple of years ago, we

Solution

Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)

Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) is used as defense by employers against litigations by either employees or possible applicants on the basis of discriminations. The employees or applicants often sue companies on the basis of any possible discrimination against them.

The basis of discriminations that are found against the employers or that are alleged against the employers is generally on the basis of gender, religion or nationality. The main basis of discrimination is often found out to be gender.

The rule of BFOQ lays down that the employers have the right to reject an application in case the applicant does not meet the bona fide requirement of the job.

Analysis

In the present case the employer had advertised for men baseball gears. A female applicant applied for advertising for men’s baseball gears and the application was rejected. The EEOC held that she had no case.

The employers were right in rejecting the application from female applicant as the advertisement is used to create awareness about a particular product among a selective group of people.

A female advertising for men’s baseball gear would not have been able to send the actual message of usage of gears by men. Thus, BFOQ could have been used as defense by the employers.

The 4/5^th rule say that there should be 80 percent of majority and 20 percent of minority in a company. This is also not applicable in the present case as it requires a complete analysis as to whether right percentage of majority and minority has been employed by the company.

Thus, EEOC was right in rejecting the application of the female applicant as it did not meet the bona fide requirement of the employees.