Say a Baptist church needs a new secretary and a jewish person wants
the job. The church said they "prefer" a Baptist applicant. If the
Jewish person is the best choice for the job, could the church legally
hire a lesser candidate based BFOQ standards? I understand the BFOQ
protects the church when hiring ministers and catholic school teachers
but what about the secretary or the janitor? I don't see anything in
the job description for either position that would make it a burden to
hire a non-baptist.

Please advise

Thanks
Mike

"Mike" <mykbuckley@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:eb499239.0310081320.1e0c5107@posting.google.c om... Say a Baptist church needs a new secretary and a jewish person wants the job. The church said they "prefer" a Baptist applicant. If the Jewish person is the best choice for the job, could the church legally hire a lesser candidate based BFOQ standards? I understand the BFOQ protects the church when hiring ministers and catholic school teachers but what about the secretary or the janitor? I don't see anything in the job description for either position that would make it a burden to hire a non-baptist.

I don't know what the law is on this issue. But you have provided a crystal
clear example of religious prejudice. If you don't hire the applicant
because of her religion, what else would you call it? Stay tuned for the
legal answer.

McGyver

"McGyver" <Greyprof@msn.com> wrote in message news:<bm411i$im2r4$1@ID-75195.news.uni-berlin.de>... "Mike" <mykbuckley@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:eb499239.0310081320.1e0c5107@posting.google.c om... Say a Baptist church needs a new secretary and a jewish person wants the job. The church said they "prefer" a Baptist applicant. If the Jewish person is the best choice for the job, could the church legally hire a lesser candidate based BFOQ standards? I understand the BFOQ protects the church when hiring ministers and catholic school teachers but what about the secretary or the janitor? I don't see anything in the job description for either position that would make it a burden to hire a non-baptist. I don't know what the law is on this issue. But you have provided a crystal clear example of religious prejudice. If you don't hire the applicant because of her religion, what else would you call it? Stay tuned for the legal answer. McGyver

I agree with McGyver. Religion is a bonafide occupational
qualification (BFOQ) only when it actually _IS_ a BFOQ. That's not a
tautology; it's a statement that you have to look to the facts of each
case to see what's what, and you can't just blindly sling around legal
labels (or as some courts love to call them, "shibboleths" -- look it
up in your Bible) in hopes they apply.

Religion is a BFOQ for jobs that have a religious element and require
at least knowledge of, if not also devotion to, to a particular faith
or doctrine. Minister? Yes. Janitor? No. As to the church
secretary, IMO that would depend what his/her actual job duties are.

My wife teaches at a Jewish private school. All the religion
teachers are Jewish -- most are ordained rabbis. The teachers of
secular subjects are of all races and religions. So are the bus
drivers, janitors, security guards, etc.

Bottom line is, if it's a grey area, and if the church alleges that
the job duties have some elements of policy, doctrine, or ministry in
them, then secular courts will not second-guess that determination,
since to do so would tread upon the freedom of religion on the one
hand (violating the free exercise prong of the First Amendment) and
would on the other hand involve the government in deciding whether
there was merit to the church's doctrinal position (i.e., that the job
of church secretary involves an element of witnessing the faith to the
student body et al.) That, in turn, would violate the Establishment
Clause (the court would be picking which doctrinal interpretation was
correct). As a result, whatever the church decides, it will probably
not be challenged. OTOH, a position which is clearly unrelated to
any of the above (like janitor) needs to be open to all qualified
applicants.

Mike Jacobs