UAW v. Johnson Controls: An Affirmance of Equal Employment Opportunities for Women

Abstract

INTRODUCTION|Congress adopted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to guarantee equal employment opportunities for all persons. The Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." In 1978, Congress amended Title VII by enacting the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ("PDA"). The PDA states that employment policies and practices based on an employee's pregnancy or a related medical condition constitute a form of sex discrimination and are actionable under Title VII. Both Title VII and the PDA permit discriminatory policies but only if those policies qualify as either a bona fide occupational qualification ("BFOQ") or a business necessity. The former, a very narrow exception, is applied to facially discriminatory policies and the latter is applied to those policies that are facially neutral but have a discriminatory impact on a protected...