Employment Relations Writing Assessment for Unit 7: Cardware Analysis

PART I:

According to definition, BFOQs (Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications) are a necessary (not merely preferred) qualification for performing a job (Noe, Hollenbeck, Wright, & Gerhart, 2009, p. 77). In other words, the law allows for consideration of employment through BFOQ for employers to effectively discriminate against otherwise qualified individuals. In this particular job posting the CARDWARE did use specific words and descriptive characteristics that would be considered in candidates.

The bona fide occupational qualification (“BFOQ”) is a defense that an employer can use to justify intentional discrimination in some circumstances.

For example, gender discrimination is illegal. But what about a men’s clothing designer who refuses to hire female models? Is the designer required to hire female models? Of course not. Being male is a bona fide occupational qualification for the position.

A BFOQ is a legitimate job criterion upon which employers can legally discriminate in hiring. However, to use this defense the employer would have to show that nearly all members of the excluded class cannot perform the functions of the job. BFOQs allow discrimination based on age, national origin, and gender (sex) but not race.

The descriptive words youthful, athletic, experienced in retail sales or marketing allow the ad to be a BFOQ. CARDWARE also has a reputation for a particular look to uphold when it comes to their company’s appearance.

However, when incorporating Sporty One Slogan “You don’t have to be an athlete to look and feel like one”, one could argue that there is discrimination and the ad contradicts their slogan. In this case Petunia, being middle aged, not youthful (What does youthful mean?) and plump, not athletic [See my comments above.] are facts about the candidate which do not meet all the criteria of The Sporty One. Regardless of Petunia’s experience the job ad was specific of what they were looking for. Typically, this qualifies as...