Title VII states that an employee cannot be treated differently because of sex unless sex is a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ). When used as a defense, bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) allows an organization to hire and employ individuals on the basis of the qualifications reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise. This paper will discuss the necessary steps employers must take in order to justify using sex as a discriminator when hiring employees and review some known cases where BFOQ was used as a defense.DEFINITIONS Sex Discrimination is traditionally defined as systematically treating one sex differently from the other. However, discrimination can be further defined by breaking it down into two areas: disparate treatment and disparate impact. Disparate treatment is more commonly known as outright discrimination. It is treating an individual differently than what is fair and just because of race, sex religious beliefs or any other differentiating factor. Disparate impact is discrimination towards a group of employees who are members of the protected class. The protected class is that group of individuals who are protected from discrimination by a federal, state or local statute (Sovereign, p.352). Everyone is a member of at least one protected class, because gender is a protected class. In Title VII litigation, where the employees neutral practice causes the disparate impact, no showing of intent to discriminate is necessary for liability (Kovacic-Fleischer, p.858). In a Title VII case, once a plaintiff has made a prima facie disparate impact case, a defendant can defend by proving that the neutral practice is a business necessity. If the defendant is able to establish the defense, the plaintiff still has the opportunity to prove that the defendant could achieve the business necessity in a less discriminatory manner. The Bona Fide Occupa...
