Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations

The Legal Environment of Human Resources Management 59

of both sexes on a shift, the hospital ’ s ability to provide care to its patients

is impeded.

The question of whether race, religion, national origin, color, and sex

constitute BFOQs arises often in the nonprofi t sector. Is gender a legiti-

mate BFOQ for an executive director position at a rape and sexual abuse

center? Can a qualifi ed male perform the administrative and leadership

tasks, or does the executive director need to be a female? Would race be

a BFOQ for a leadership position in a community - based nonprofi t that

provides services to racial minorities? If a BFOQ is challenged, the burden

is on the employer to justify any claim.

Laws That Address Religious Discrimination

Under Section 701(j) of Title VII, employers are obligated to accommodate

their employees ’ or prospective employees ’ religious practices. Failure to

make accommodation is unlawful unless an employer can demonstrate

that it cannot reasonably accommodate the employee because of undue

hardship in the conduct of its business. In Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison

(1977), the Supreme Court ruled that the employer and union need not

violate a seniority provision of a valid collective bargaining agreement, the

employer has no obligation to impose undesirable shifts on nonreligious

employees, and the employer has no obligation to call in substitute workers

if such accommodation would require more than de minimis cost.

Nonprofi t organizations that provide secular services but are affi liated

with and governed by religious institutions are exempt from the law under

Section 702 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states: “ This title shall

not apply to an employer with respect to the employment of aliens outside

any State, or to a religious corporation, association, educational institution,

or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular

religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corpora-

tion, association, educational institution, or society of its activities. ”

Educational institutions such as universities, schools, or other institu-

tions of learning are also exempt from the law. Section 703(e)(2) of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 states:

It shall not be an unlawful employment practice for a school, college,

university, or other educational institution or institution of learning

to hire and employ employees of a particular religion if such school,

college, university, or other educational institution or institution

of learning is, in whole or in substantial part, owned, supported,