The Amateur Financier

You might think, after reading the title to this post, that I’ve lost my mind, or at least, am trying to boost my blog’s visibility on the search engines.  (For some odd reason, anything that involves young attractive women garners a sizable amount of attention.)  That’s not the case (well, the second one might be a tiny bit true); there’s actually a serious question to be answered here.

Specifically, that question is why, in our current legalistic, anti-discriminatory environment, can Hooters get away with hiring um, ‘highly qualified’ young women while keeping out the older women, the ‘less qualified’, and of course, men?  (By the way, I’m still looking for a job, so if any Hooters managers in the Northwest Pennsylvania area are hiring, give me a ring.)

The only 'Hooters' you're going to see in this article; sorry to disappoint.

In other businesses, there’s been a movement away from such hiring requirements.  To cite just one example, stewardesses (back before they were flight attendants) used to have a long list of qualifications in order to hold their position, from height and weight restrictions (arguably important when space is limited, as on early planes) to being women (that’s starting to get a bit questionable) to being young, attractive, and unmarried (can you see those qualifications ‘flying’ today without leading to protests and legal actions?).

Now, of course, such restrictions have all but disappeared in the flight attendant field; I’ve been on several flights, and the stereotypical beautiful female stewardess (launcher of a thousand ‘Coffee?  Tea?  Or Me?’ jokes) hasn’t appeared on a single one.  (More often than not, I have a male flight attendant; this is probably for the best, as my last flight was with my fiancee.)   Given all of this, why can Hooters use gender and ‘high qualifications’ as a hiring qualification while airlines can’t?

Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications

The answer is bona fide occupational qualifications.  Title 29, Chapter 14, Section 623 of the United States Code (wow, that’s a mouthful) allows companies and other employers to make particular qualifications a condition of employment, even ones that violate other sections of the anti-discrimination law, in situations:

where age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business, or where the differentiation is based on reasonable factors other than age, or where such practices involve an employee in a workplace in a foreign country, and compliance with such subsections would cause such employer, or a corporation controlled by such employer, to violate the laws of the country in which such workplace is located.

The goal of this subsection is to prevent anti-discrimination laws from forcing companies or other organization to make hiring decisions that would oppose the mission of said organization.  The Catholic church doesn’t have to hire non-Catholic priests, bus and plane companies can set age, eyesight and physical fitness requirements to ensure rider safety, and companies in countries that prohibit women from working can hire all men for their operations in those countries.

All of this gives Hooters the legal protection that they need to justify their hiring practices.  You can legally hire only attractive women to work in your wing and beer joint if they are necessary for the normal operation of the business.  (No argument from me; goodness knows that with all the places to get wings and beer, you need to have something to set your chain apart from the crowd.)

This hasn’t stopped several men from raising law suits regarding discrimination against men in Hooter’s hiring practices.  In response, Hooters has raised the bono fide occupational qualifications argument, that their qualifications for waitresses are needed for the business model to work.  (Again, when your business model is getting guys to come in, ogle girls, drink, and eat wings, it helps to have plenty of cute, attractive girls in skimpy outfits to facilitate the ogling.)  As a result, Hooters has added positions for men (again, I’m available), although for the waitresses, it’s still young, cute, ‘highly qualified’, and of course, female.

So, next time you head out to visit your local Hooters, remember: you’re not just trying to get drunk, eat wings, and stare at cute girls, you’re supporting an innovative business using a bono fide occupational qualifications methodology to support sales.  If that works on your wife, girlfriend, or other significant other, let me know; there’s no way I’m trying on Sondra without some proof.

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