When Is the BFOQ Defense Used? What Are the Employer's

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The Answer is When the employer has a policy that excludes an entire protected group, its only viable option is the use of a BFOQ defense. The term BFOQ refers to "bona fide occupational qualification."
When using a BFOQ defense, the employer argues that it purposely discriminated against all members of a protected group for one of the following four reasons: (1) All or nearly all: All or nearly all of the members of that group are incapable of performing the job in question. (2) Authenticity: To be "authentic," the employer must limit its hiring to members of a particular protected group, thus excluding all others. (3) Propriety: It would be improper to hire members of one or the other sex for a particular job. (4) Safety: The employment of an older worker would put the worker or others at risk.

When Is the BFOQ Defense Used? What Are the Employer's

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