Bona fide occupational qualification. A very narrowly interpreted exception to EEO laws that allows employers to base employment decisions for a particular job on such factors as sex, religion or national origin, if they are able to demonstrate that such factors are an essential qualification for performing a particular job.
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification. A defense, provided for the Section 703(e) of Title VII which an employer can raise to justify an employment practice which would otherwise be unlawful because of its discriminatory impact based on one's sex, religion, or national origin. Examples are the requirement that an actress playing the part of a woman be a woman or that a minister of a particular religion be a member of that particular religion. The concept of BFOQ is interpreted very narrowly be both the EEOC and the federal courts. Age may be a BFOQ under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. Race is never a BFOQ.
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification. refers to a specific set of characteristics that are reasonably necessary for the normal operation of the employer's business or the performance of a particular job. In certain limited cases. Such characteristics may include gender, religion, or national origin/ancestry if such characteristics and/or qualifications are necessary to perform the job. In utilizing BFOQ's, the burden of proof falls on the employer to show that such qualifications are reasonable and necessary.
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification. A defense allowing an employer to limit a particular job to members of one sex, religion or national origin group. The courts have held that the statutory BFOQ provision in Title VII is a very narrow exception to the general prohibition against discrimination on the basis of those characteristics. In enforcing the Executive Order, OFCCP follows Title VII principles regarding the BFOQ exception. An employer claiming that sex is a BFOQ for a job has to show that all (or substantially all) members of the excluded sex are incapable of performing the duties of the job and that failure to allow the exclusion would undermine the "essence"--the central purpose or mission--of the employer's business. Race can never be considered a BFOQ for a job.
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification. a qualification required for performance of a job that limits the opportunity of persons of a particular sex, religion, or national origin to apply for consideration.
Bona fide occupational qualification. A characteristic providing a legitimate reason why an employer can exclude persons on otherwise illegal bases of consideration.