Employment DiscriminationFirm News

B&B Attorney Belfort Quoted by Boston Herald As To Standards In EEOC Hiring Bias Investigation

By May 24, 2012 No Comments

We are pleased to announce that on May 24, 2012, Bennett & Belfort, P.C. attorney David E. Belfort was quoted in the newspaper, The Boston Herald, in an article entitled “Marylou’s hit with discrimination inquiry: Coffee house chain bitter over federal ‘witch hunt.’”  In the context of an EEOC investigation into the coffee shop chain, Marylou’s, Mr. Belfort was asked by the reporter to opine on the legal standards applied to job applicants, under federal discrimination law, and whether age and gender may play a role in hiring.  Attorney Belfort indicated that membership in protected classes under the discrimination laws (e.g. sex, age, race, etc.) may generally not be considered in hiring, (See EEOC list of prohibited discrimination) or other job actions.  However, in certain cases, legitimate business reasons allow employers the selection of candidates because of their status, such as seeking females to serve as attendants in the women’s locker room.  In these narrow cases, employees may indeed be legitimately chosen or excluded from a job due to membership (e.g. gender) in a protected class without necessarily violating the law.  This analysis becomes tricky when subjective physical features (e.g. attractiveness) are used as a measuring stick by employers given that such filters may be used as a proxy for age or gender bias.  Congratulations to Attorney Belfort for being recognized for his knowledge and experience in the field of discrimination law.