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.
An employer, irrespective of any other fact, can refuse to continue the employment of an employee or can refuse to hire them.
In this article, we will cover
What is Bona Fide Occupational Qualification?
Bona fide occupation qualification can be understood as a compulsion that restricts the employers to discontinue the employment of an employee. Not only this, but they are also allowed to not 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 allows discrimination against a gender, religion or nationality to a particular business or the job role position.
How does a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification Exception Apply?
A bona fide occupational qualification is applied to an organization based on the nature of the job and the type of organization. To apply for bona fide occupational qualification to the organization, the employer must prove the well-built reasons for doing so.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the law applied for illegal employment. It prohibits discrimination towards any employee based on their race, color, religion, gender, or nationality. But there is an exception where this general rule can be applied for rare situations.
Discrimination based on race or color is totally inexcusable but other factors such as religion, gender or nationality can differ in certain situations.
To justify bona fide occupational qualification, an employee must
- Verify the need of the with rigid reasons.
- The age and the gender are directly proportional to 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: Age factor is important to consider because as an employee gets old, they may start facing different health issues. If the company has a 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, but 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,
- Mandatory retirement for pilots and drivers.
- Catholic church priests.
- An employee required to be bilingual for the job.
Now, the claims are not acceptable by the court are,
- Hiring only female attendants.
- Rejection of an applicant due to their strong accent.
- Young talents required.
- Only males required.
How do Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications Affect an Employee?
A bona fide occupational qualification impacts the life of an employee and their career in various ways, such as
- Weaking the morale of employees’ where restriction bar does not only affect the employee with their career but also take a toll on one’s mental health. They hinder future opportunities for the employee and restrict the available options.
- Narrowed job opportunities where 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.
- 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.
- Once a person meets the bona fide occupational qualification measures, they have least 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 states 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.
I hope we helped you to edify your knowledge to a greater extent. We’ll bring more in for you! Till then keep reading, keep thinking and keep HRing.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification?
A Bona Fide Occupational Qualification can be defined as the legal provisions that specify the restrictions that bind the employer to refuse the hiring, or the continuity of an employee further based on their religion, gender, age or nationality.
2. Why is Bona Fide Occupational Qualification important?
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification is important for the organization as well as the employee. It serves certain employment law that protects the rights of the employees and commits required justice to the organization as well.
It becomes necessary in situations such as, growing age when an employee reaches a particular age, they need medical facilities and rest. This requires the employers to set an age for retirement of those employees.