Recent Development by V.P. Casey
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) challenged the Mississippi State Tax Commission (MSTC) for violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) when the MSTC, in accordance with Mississippi law, forced its scales-enforcement officers to retire at the age of sixty. Mississippi scales-enforcement officers enforce laws pertaining to the registration, taxation, and licensing of commercial trucks on the state's highways. Job applicants must complete, though not necessarily pass, Law Enforcement Academy training. Although most duties were routine, officers had encountered confrontations with violent truckers, and had engaged in high-speed highway chases. Officers also regularly lifted scales weighing forty to one hundred pounds. Supported by these job requisites, the MSTC claimed that because physical stamina and the ability to withstand physical stress were reasonably necessary characteristics for the safe execution of its business, it had established a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) as required for a defense under the ADEA. The EEOC claimed, however, that because the MSTC had not imposed a minimum standard of fitness on all employees, the MSTC failed to prove that the fitness qualifications were reasonably necessary to safe job performance. The district court held that no minimum standard of fitness was required and that the MSTC's qualifications were essential to the safe execution of scales-enforcement duties. The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's decision and held that an employer must show that it has developed, implemented, and enforced some minimum standard of health and fitness on all of its employees to prove that these qualifications are reasonably necessary to its business. Because the MSTC had failed to impose any threshold minimum standard, it could not justify its BFOQ defense. EEOC v. Mississippi State Tax Commission, 848 F.2d 526 (5th Cir. 1988).
About the Author
V.P. Casey.
Citation
63 Tul. L. Rev. 711 (1989)