FOLIO Ontology

A Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) is a work qualification that an employer argues is a necessary requirement for a particular job and is thus allowed to be discriminatory in nature. The legality of a BFOQ depends on its reasonableness and necessity for the specific job in question, usually subject to regulatory oversight or judicial review. For example, a job posting for a restaurant server may require applicants to be at least 18 years of age so they can legally serve alcohol. Another example is requiring at least one security hospital treatment assistant assigned to each psychiatric hospital ward to be the same gender as the ward's patients.