What is Bona Fide Occupational Qualification & Why It''s Important

What is Bona Fide Occupational Qualification & Why It''s Important

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What is Bona Fide Occupational Qualification

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification, abbreviated as BFOQ, can be termed as the restrictions that legally bind the employer to refuse the hiring or the employment of a person based on their religion, age, gender, or nationality.

Irrespective of any other fact, the employer can refuse to continue the employment of an employee or can even refuse to hire.

The bona fide occupational qualification can be viewed as a compulsion that restricts the employers to discontinue the employment of an employee. In fact, they are even permitted not to hire a person based on their gender, religion, or nationality.

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification, also abbreviated as BFOQ, acts as a restriction for the employer to refuse the acceptance of a person as an employee for the benefit of their organization. BFOQ permits discrimination against a certain gender, religion, or nationality in a particular business or in the job role position.

How Does a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification Exception Apply?

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification is applied to an organization considering the nature of the job and type of organization. While applying for bona fide occupational qualification, the employer has to prove the well-built reasons to apply it to the organization.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the statute applied to unlawful employment practices. It makes it unlawful to discriminate against any employee based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. But it also provides for an exception where such a general rule may be applied in exceptional cases.

Racial and color-based discrimination is justifiable under no circumstances but the rest, such as religion, gender, and nationality, can vary in certain cases.

To Justify Bona Fide Occupational Qualification, an Employer Must:

• Verify that the need exists with rigid reasons.
• The age and the gender directly link with the nature of the job.
• The BFOQ relates to the ""essence"" or the ""central mission of the employer''s business.""

Why is BFOQ Important for Organizations?

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification does not have a negative side only; there are reasons for its importance in an organization. It is essential to understand the need of BFOQ in the organization to maintain an environment which is suitable for everyone.

There are aspects where BFOQ becomes necessary, such as:

• Age: The age factor is important to consider because with age, an employee may start facing different health issues. If the company has the policy of retiring the employees by some age, it is for their comfort and betterment.
• Gender: Although there is no workplace where only a gender can work, there are some places where females are highly recommended to be. It is still not a compulsion.
• Nationality: It is an important factor. The nationality of a person is considered highly while recruiting the employee. A person belonging to the like nationality tends to get prioritized in the hiring process.

Examples of Acceptable BFOQs

Not every claim made is acceptable by the court. There must be authentic grounds for the claim. The examples of the claims that are acceptable include:

• Mandatory retirement for pilots and drivers.
• Catholic church priests.
• An employee required to be bilingual for the job.

Claims that are not acceptable by the court include:

• Hiring only female attendants.
• Rejection of an applicant because of his strong accent.
• Young talents needed.
• Only males needed.

How Does Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications Affect an Employee?

A Bona Fide Occupational Qualification impacts the life of an employee and his career in numerous ways, such as:

• Weaken the Morale: Restrictions not only affect the employee''s career but also take a toll on one''s mental health. They hinder future opportunities and restrict options available to them.
• Narrow Job Opportunities: Limited opportunities are available to the person who meets the bona fide occupational qualification. They don''t have many options left for themselves as employees anymore.
• Working Environment: The working environment of an organization can be affected due to bona fide occupational qualification applied. It compels the employer and other employees to treat that person in a certain manner.
• Job Security: Once a person meets the bona fide occupational qualification measures, they have less job security. They may be seen as extra employees to the organization.

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification is the exception applied to the organization that protects the employee and employer.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enumerates all the applicable forms of BFOQ that can be applied by an employer. If there is another basis on which BFOQ is applied, an employee is always free to complain about the same.

Hope we helped you edify your knowledge to a greater extent. We will bring more in for you! Till then keep reading, keep thinking, and keep HRing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• What is Bona Fide Occupational Qualification? Bona Fide Occupational Qualification refers to provisions in the law that specify restrictions that bind the employer to refuse the hiring or the continuity of an employee based on religion, gender, age, or nationality.
• Why is the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification Important? It is important to the bona fide occupational qualification of the organization and to the employee. Some employment laws are served, the rights of the employees are protected, and required justice is committed to the organization as well. This becomes necessary in situations such as growing age. When an employee comes to a particular age, he needs medical facilities and rest. This requires the employers to set an age for retirement of those employees.

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