b. the media's portrayal of law enforcement officers. The prior incumbent, the selectee, and the charging party were all female, and The employees, with few exceptions, performed light assembly work on the finished product. d. improved educational opportunities. of the requirement was discriminatory since the respondent did not establish its use as a business necessity. Along these lines, the issue that the EOS might encounter is an assertion that, since weight is not an immutable characteristic, it is permissible to discriminate based on weight. This was sufficient to establish a Labor, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. in discharge. the job would be futile. On a case-by-case with discrimination based on sex, national origin, and to a lesser extent, race. presented to the Commission by Black and Hispanic women both groups were unable to meet the first requirement of proving statistically that, on average, their groups weighed more. (See Example 4 below and Commission Decisions in 621.5(e).) Law enforcement officers perform physically demanding tasks that generally remain constant as they age. (ii) Where appropriate, get their statements. height requirement a business necessity. Maximum height requirements would, of course, Therefore, a national statistical pool, as opposed to an actual applicant pool, should be used for 72-0284, CCH EEOC Decision (1973) 6304, the Commission found a minimum height requirement for flight pursers discriminatory on the basis of sex and national origin since its disproportionate exclusion of those The general provisions of Title VII prohibiting discrimination have a direct and obvious application where the selection criteria include height or weight requirements. self-recognized inability to meet the requirement, the application process might not adequately reflect the potential applicant pool. I have been informed that, at present, the firefighters council requires all applicants for employment as firefighters to be at least 5'6" in height, with weight proportionate to height. discriminated on the basis of sex because large numbers of females were automatically excluded from consideration. well-being and safety of females mandated the rejection. And, if a job validity study is used to show that the practice is a business necessity, the validity study should include a determination of whether there are suggested that, even if the quality was found to be job related, a validated test which directly measures strength could be devised and adopted. 1982) (where a distinction is made as to treatment Example (2) - R, a fire department, replaced its minimum height/weight standards with a physical ability/agility test. The Commission also is a minimum height/weight requirement, are applicants actually being rejected on the basis of physical strength. International v. United Air Lines, Inc., 408 F. Supp. Weight requirements for Navy positions are enforced. R was unable to offer any evidence The first female police officer. Lines, 14 EPD 7600 (S.D. Minimum height requirements can also result in disparate treatment of protected group or class members if the minimum requirements are not uniformly applied, e.g., where the employer applies a minimum 5'8" height requirement strictly to basis, Commission decisions and court cases have determined what things do not constitute an adequate business necessity defense. (1) Disparate Treatment Analysis - The disparate treatment analysis is typically applicable where the respondent has a height or weight requirement, but it is only enforced against one protected 70-140, CCH EEOC Decisions (1973) 6067, which alleged disparate treatment, reliance on a policy against hiring overweight applicants was found to be a pretext for racial discrimination as only Black applicants CPs argue that the standard charts fail for that reason to consider that Black females have a different body structure, physiology, and different proportional height/weight measurements than White females. Therefore, group or class and not against others. men must be disproportionately excluded from employment by a maximum height requirement, in the same manner as women are disproportionately excluded from employment by a minimum height requirement. According to respondent, taller officers enjoyed a psychological advantage and thus would less often be attacked, were better able to subdue suspects, and (See also EEOC v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., ___ F. Supp. As R's maximum weight policy is applied only to females, the policy is discriminatory. According to CP, females have In terms of a disparate treatment analysis of minimum height requirements, the difference in treatment will probably be based on either the nonuniform application of a single height requirement or different height requirements for females as minimum weight standards for different group or class members because of their protected status or nonuniform application of the same minimum weight standard can, absent a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its use, result in prohibited supra court cases came to different conclusions. The policy was not uniformly applied. Male Female; Height: Maximum: Height: Maximum: 4'5" 133: 4'5" 134: 4'6" 137: 4'6" 138: 4'7" 142: 4'7" 141: 4'8" 147: 4'8" 144: 4'9" 151: 4'9" 148: . discrimination because weight in the sense of being over or under weight is neither an immutable characteristic nor a constitutionally protected category. CP, an unsuccessful female job applicant weighing under 150 lbs., alleged, based on national statistics which showed that the minimum requirement would automatically exclude 87% of all women This automatic exclusion from consideration adversely impacts upon those protected groups. subject to the employees' personal control. Using a different standard for females as opposed to males was found to violate the Act. stronger. requirement, where there was no neutral height policy, and no one had ever been rejected based on height. Investigation revealed that R's reason for the weight requirement was public preference for shapely females in public contact positions. In contrast, 5 of the men failed both requirements. Practices Guide 6661, the Commission looked at national statistics and the fact that all of respondent's police officers were male and concluded that the respondent's minimum 5'9", 145 lbs., requirement disproportionately impacted against (since Asian women are presumably not as tall as American women) may not be applicable. Example (2) - R, airlines, has a maximum 6'5" height requirement for pilots. The Office of Legal Counsel, Guidance Division should be contacted when it arises. Commission Decision No. The minimum age requirement for a police officer is between 18-21 years of age. Example (3) - Partial Processing Indicated - CPs, female restaurant employees, file a charge alleging that they are being discriminated against by R since it requires that all of its employees maintain the proper weight in and over possessed the physical As the following examples suggest, charges in this area may also be based on disparate treatment, e.g., that female flight attendants are being treated differently by nonuniform application of a maximum weight requirement or that different Like the above example and in Commission Decision Nos. (ii) If there are witnesses get their statements. Because of potential discouragement when height/weight requirements are imposed by A direct analogy was drawn to the long hair cases where the circuit courts for a police cadet position. The required height for female police officers in the state is 1.63 meters (just over five feet three inches). Dothard Court emphasized that respondents cannot rely on unfounded, generalized assertions about strength to establish a business necessity defense for use of minimum weight requirements. above), charges based on exceeding the maximum allowable weight in proportion to one's height and body size would be extremely difficult to settle. Therefore, if, for example, Black or Hispanic females allege that because of peculiar racial or national 1132, 19 EPD 9267 (N.D. Ill. 1979). Disparate treatment occurs when a protected group or class member is treated less favorably than other similarly situated employees for reasons prohibited under Title VII. Hispanics from production jobs. For a more thorough discussion of investigative females, not the males, to be "shapely". that as a result, a maximum height requirement disproportionately excludes them from employment. Height requirements for Female Police Officer is 150cms. My junior year in high school I figured that I wasn't going to get any taller than the 5'6" I eventually became. preclude the hiring of individuals over the specified maximum height. 58. requirements have been set for females as opposed to males. For a thorough discussion of these and similar problems, the EOS should consult 610, Adverse Impact in the Selection Process; and the Uniform Guidelines on Employee The ACFT is scored using different requirements depending on gender and age. to applicants for guardpositions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination in violation of Title VII. result in discrimination (see 621.2 above), some courts (see cases cited below) have found that setting different maximum weight standards for men and women of the same height does not result in prohibited discrimination. 70-140, CCH EEOC Decisions (1973) 6067, where unjustified notions render its actions discriminatory since its distinctions are based on sex. bore a relationship to strength were found to be inadequate absent evidence showing a correlation between height and weight requirements and strength. women passed the wall requirement, and none passed the sandbag requirement. of the employment policy or practice. (i) Use of National Statistics - In dealing with height and weight requirements it may not in many cases be appropriate to rely upon an actual applicant flow analysis to determine if women objects. In its defense the respondent had its supervisory personnel testify that the minimum Therefore, R is discriminating by nonuniform application of its minimum height policy. Investigation revealed that of 237 flight attendants 57 are males and 180 to support its contention. Weight at BMI 17.5. because the physical ability/agility test disproportionately excludes large numbers of women and is not justified by business necessity. Except for a fact situation like the one suggested in 621.3(a) above, it is unlikely that a charging party will be able to establish that his protected group or class is on average taller than other groups or classes and When that happens, the Office of Legal Counsel, Guidance Division should be contacted for assistance. a. escalating numbers of officer resignations. Close A related body of scholarship also suggests that, on average, female police officers are more adept at avoiding violent confrontations in the first instance. But on Tuesday, a court in . The respondent did not show the existence of a valid relationship between strength and weight. The An adverse impact analysis does not require the proving of intent, but rather it focuses on the effects Rawlinson, supra, however, agreed with the Commission's position and used national statistics to find that minimum height and weight requirements were discriminatory and that unsupported assertions about strength were inadequate to Example (2) - R, police department, had a minimum height requirement for females but not for males because it did not believe females, as opposed to males, under 5'8" could safely and efficiently perform all the duties of a proportion to height based on national height/weight charts. According to the Supreme Court, this constitutes the sort of artificial, arbitrary, and unnecessary barrier to employment that 14 (November 30, 1977). 1-844-234-5122 (ASL Video Phone), Call 1-800-669-4000 Anglos testified that they were not aware of the existence of the physical ability/agility tests. 1975); Castro v. Beecher, 459 F.2d 725, 4 EPD 7783 (1st Cir. R defended on the ground that CP was not being treated differently from similarly situated males because there were no male stewards or passenger service representatives. impact in the selection process, when analyzing height/weight requirements. Then it was 5 feet, 6; since 1980, it has been 5 feet; who concocted those numbers, and on what criteria? 5'7 1/3". positions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination in violation of Title VII. LockA locked padlock weight requirement. The standards include physical aptitude tests and a requirement that officers' waistlines be 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women. 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