Yvonne brought my
attention to the fact that as students, professionals, speakers, and/or
writers, we have a tendency to use terms that we think everyone
understands. Since we would prefer to
read a blog without having to open twenty tabs to understand what is being
said, and causing our browsers to catastrophically fail, we thought that
defining some of the terminology from the previous post would be helpful. This also provides me with the opportunity to
practice applying these terms before completing course projects and final
exams. Having said this, I have provided
links to these definitions for those of you who wish to make your own interpretations.
“Business
necessity” can be defined as a discriminatory job requirement or employment
practice that is necessary to ensure that an essential task or duty for a
specific job can be performed safely and successfully. For example, a candidate who was recently
convicted of child molestation can be legally disqualified for a cashiering
position at a toy store since the individual’s essential duty of assisting
customers requires her/him to come into contact with children. On the other hand, if the same candidate
applies for a position as an office cleaner for an accounting firm, s/he cannot
be legally disqualified as a result of the conviction because her/his essential
duties do not require contact with children.
"Essential
duties" are duties/tasks that are critical to an individual's success
in performing her/his job. Using the
candidate who was recently convicted of child molestation as an example, the
candidate will need to serve customers who bring their children to the toy
store. Contact with children in this situation is unavoidable because serving
customers with children is an essential part of a toy store cashier's job.
“Bona
fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)” is an employment qualification that
employers may consider when making employment decisions. The employer must demonstrate that excluded
individuals could not perform the job duties required and that those job duties
are essential to the employer’s business; however, it is important to note that
race and color are excluded from this defense.
For instance, a gym can disqualify male candidates for a female locker
room attendant position if the attendant's presence is in the locker room is
required at all times.
“Legally
problematic” means that a practice is not illegal; however, the practice
could lead to illegal practices, or the practice could be perceived as
illegal. For instance, asking questions
that could identify an applicant’s gender is legally problematic because Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that it is illegal to consider a
person’s gender in the employment decision, unless it is a bona fide
occupational qualification (BFOQ). In this situation, this practice could lead
to intentional or unintentional bias in the employment decision, or the
organization could be perceived as showing bias in the employment decision.
“Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)” is a U.S. law that prohibits workplace
discrimination and harassment based on national origin, race, gender, color,
genetic information, and religion. Title
VII also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce
the laws in the Act. The law has been
expanded to include discrimination or harassment based upon pregnancy, sexual
harassment of employees, and stereotyping based on national origin, race, gender,
color, and religion. However, some
employers are exempt from Title VII laws as indicated under the “Definitions”
section.
“Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC )”
is a regulatory committee charged with enforcing U.S. laws that prohibit
workplace discrimination and harassment based on genetic information, national
origin, race, gender, color, age, disability, and religion; furthermore, the
EEOC provides guidance to federal agencies and ensures that U.S. federal
agencies are in compliance with EEO regulations. The EEOC has been instrumental in
interpreting employment law, and its interpretations and decisions have
significantly contributed to past and present U.S. Supreme Court rulings
pertaining to employment law. The EEOC
has the authority to investigate charges of discrimination and harassment,
assist in resolving the charges, and file lawsuits against employers if the
employers refuse to cooperate. Since
many states have their own anti-discrimination laws, the EEOC works with local
and state agencies called Fair Employment Practice Agencies (FEPAs) so that
employees who wish to file discrimination charges can do so on a state and/or
federal level.
Thank you for reading! If you have any suggestions or comments regarding how these terms are defined, or if I left something out, please feel free to comment about it.
