BFOQ Discrimination Case Study

Discrimination According to Eisenhower (1959, March 13), “I believe that the United States as a government, if it is going to be true to its own founding documents, does have the job of working toward that time when there is no discrimination made on such inconsequential reason as race, color, or religion” (Eisenhower, 1959 March 13). In this paper I am going to discuss a case where an employer argued BFOQ (bona fide occupational qualifications), should Title VII apply to every company regardless of the number of employees, and should race and color be permissible bona fide occupational qualifications.
Case Where a Employer Argued BFOQ The case that I found where an employer argued BFOQ is Russell v. Microdyne Corporation. According to RUSSELL v. MICRODYNE CORPORATION (n.d.), the plaintiff’s name is Marie Russell, who filed suit against Microdyne Corp., her employer at the time. She alleged that they discriminated against her because she was a woman, which is in violation of Title VII. Her complaint alleged that she had been denied a promotion, been sexually harassed in the workplace, and been punished for opposing those advancements. During litigation, Microdyne found out that Marie Russell failed to tell them about previous work experience and if they had known, they wouldn’t have hired her to begin with. (RUSSELL v. MICRODYNE CORPORATION, n.d.).

Microdyne Corporation case the courts used after-acquired evidence to make a decision on this case. They used this because the employer, Microdyne Corp., discovered Russell’s job application didn’t divulge the whole truth about her past employers, her previous salary, and her reason for leaving her last employer. That is why, in this case, the trial court granted the employer summary judgment, based upon after-acquired evidence (Kellner, 2006