A Question About Discriminatory Employment Practices

[jonasmcg]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illlinois

I was talking with a friend recently and she was telling me about a job she is filling in her organization--a organization where only women can become members. The job is in the organization's IT department at its headquarters and she has been told to limit prospective candidates to "members-only." She worries, however, that such a rule could be considered discriminatory since it automatically excludes any men from being considered. When she mentioned this to her supervisor, she was told that federal law allows such organization to restrict employment to members-only--despite the fact it excludes a protected class. This sounded wrong to me, but I know there are rules that exempt single-sex membership organization, such as college fraternities and sororities, from having to open their membership to the opposite sex, but I did not think such rules extended to employment practices. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TheGeekess]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illlinois

I was talking with a friend recently and she was telling me about a job she is filling in her organization--a organization where only women can become members. The job is in the organization's IT department at its headquarters and she has been told to limit prospective candidates to "members-only." She worries, however, that such a rule could be considered discriminatory since it automatically excludes any men from being considered. When she mentioned this to her supervisor, she was told that federal law allows such organization to restrict employment to members-only--despite the fact it excludes a protected class. This sounded wrong to me, but I know there are rules that exempt single-sex membership organization, such as college fraternities and sororities, from having to open their membership to the opposite sex, but I did not think such rules extended to employment practices. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

How many guys do you know that are Hooter Girls?

 

[eerelations]

I think this is actually an interesting question and I'm curious about the answer. Is it legal to restrict the employees of a single-gender membership association to that gender?

 

[cbg]

Without knowing more about the organization, its purpose and its status I would not want to make any firm judgments. But a members-only rule is not illegally discriminatory on its face, and there is such a thing as a BFOQ (bona fide occupational qualificiation) which explains why you do not find male washroom attendants in the ladies' restroom, or female models when the product is jockstraps.

On the basis of what information we have, it's not possible to determine whether this is illegal discrimination or not.

 

[jonasmcg]

Thanks cbg and eerelations. I was purposefully vague on the organization because I don't really want to name them and they have an important mission. Like eerelations, however, I am interested in the general question of: "Could restriction of employment to single sex membership be considered discriminatory or is there legislation or precedent that permits it?" I have often thought my friend's organization is very similar to one where I was personally worked, so for the sake of discussion, I'll use that as an example. Nearly 40 years ago, when I first came out of college, I worked on the national staff of a men's college fraternity. In those ancient days, all members of the staff were male, except for one support staff position in the person of the president's admin, but all other positions were reserved to members only. Most of those positions involved daily interaction with the membership, so I guess it made sense to have members-mentoring-members. These positions did not require any specific credentials and any member could apply to fill the roles without prior training. As it grew, however, they took on a much larger support staff. Today, as in my friend's women-only organization, in addition to secretarial, my old fraternity has accountants, IT people, and many other operational support roles--many of them now filled by women. In the opening years of the 21st century, it seems like such an organization would not be able to return a "members-only" or a defacto "men-only" restriction for all such roles?

 

[cbg]

I understand that you do not want to name the organization, and I understand why. I am not asking you to do so. However, I am asking you to understand that without knowing the purpose behind having the organization be women-only, it is not possible to give you a hard and fast answer as to whether a members-only policy of employment is, in these circumstances, illegal discrimination. Without that critical piece of information, all we can provide is conjecture.

I will say, however, that IMO, if it should turn out that it is illegal to have the members-only policy of employment, then the likelihood is that the women-only status of the organization is also illegal. And vice versa.

 

[ecmst12]

I see a problem on the face if the president thinks it's ok to have a female secretary, but all the other jobs in the company are "members only". If you're going to make it members only, it has to at least be consistently applied to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

The existence of private clubs that are single-sex only for membership is a MUCH, MUCH different legal issue than employment being single sex only. Private clubs have a lot of freedom about who they want to admit, whether it's gender or religion or race related. Discrimination is prohibited in housing, employment, and commerce, but not in social clubs. It is legal for the KKK to exist, too.