Legal Advice for CARDWARE's Recruitment Situation
CARDWARE's BFOQs in Job Advertisement
As part of promoting its growth and development, CARDWARE Inc. wants to hire more workers based on the increased trend of more female than male shoppers. The company has created an advertisement in which it's looking for a sale or marketing preferred, youthful, athletic, and energetic salesperson with the capability to sport its clothing line with style. This advertisement is based on its preference for slender, young employees who can keep its image of being sporty as reflected in marketing theory of several high-end clothing stores. This ad has contributed to a series of events including the hiring of Noah Dahl, which has angered Petunia Rotunda, an applicant, and contributed to the death of Hetty Whitestone who was passing by the mall store.
In light of these events, especially Petunia's claim that she was discriminated against based on her age during the hiring process, there are concerns on whether CARDWARE Inc. had genuine Bona Fide Occupational Job Qualifications in its job advertisement. Generally, it is illegal to discriminate against or hire workers depending on their age, nationality, gender or religion. However, Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications is a legal exception to this general rule in cases where age, gender, nationality or religion is considered bona fide occupational qualifications ("What Are Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications?" n.d.). This legal exception to the general rule allows an employer to hire employees based on characteristics or qualities that could be discriminatory when examined in other contexts. However, the employer is required to provide substantial proof that the bona fide occupational qualification is realistically...
The reasonable necessity of this preference is the stipulations of marketing theory of many high-end clothing stores that shows that slender, young workers are crucial in maintaining the image of the clothing line. For the company to effectively reach its target market, it requires employees who can maintain its image of being sporty. Therefore, the preference for youthful, energetic, and athletic salesperson was crucial for CARDWARE's business operations with regards to keeping with its image of being sporty and reaching its target market for increased productivity.
Petunia argues that she could have been hired instead of Noah but was discriminated against simply because of her age. However, Petunia's point-of-view is overshadowed by the fact that CARDWARE Inc. stipulated bona fide occupational job qualifications in its job advertisement. CARDWARE can use this general exception as a defense against Petunia's argument since these requirements are crucial to its business operations and productivity. While the company's slogan implies that age is not a factor in looking and feeling sporty, this does not imply that the recruitment is open to all kinds of individuals. The slogan does not necessary consider age as a factor in being sporty though it requires bona fide occupational qualifications as evident in this case.
Part II: CARDWARE's Negligence Liability
While Petunia's actions against Noah are totally unacceptable, there are concerns on whether CARDWARE and The Sporty…
