BFOQ for theme restaurant food servers

[Raquelle DE LA ROCHA]

In the floor debates of Title VII, the proponents of the legislation specifically referred to the example of a male actor to play the role of a male character in a play as a BFOQ.  The problem with Cock of the Walk is that the waiters who play "characters" are not actors.  they are essentially waiters, and gender is not a bono fide occupational qualification for serving food.  One must look to the essence of the business.  Is it  primarily entertainment, with food provided as an addition, or is it primarily a restaurant with a theme?  The latter will not justify
a BFOQ for gender.

>>> awolf at LLAMA.LNET.WNEC.EDU 04/02/00 05:00PM >>>
Dear Folks,

        Didn't a woman play a man in "Merchant of Venice" and "As You Like It"?
Or did I read the Classic Comic version of both plays?

        Seriously, though, Title VII allows "sex" to be a "bona fide occupational
qualification."  I assume the Court rejected that defense on the ground
that modern make-up artists can transform any person into any character.


                                                        Art Wolf




At 05:30 PM 3/30/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>Seems a very historical move to allow women to play men.
>SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE reminds us that our great canonical works
>were premised on men playing women, so women playing men would
>simply be a brilliant historical reference.
>Emily Hartigan
>
>>>> "DAVID E. BERNSTEIN" <DBERNSTE at WPGATE.GMU.EDU> 03/28/00
>01:20pm >>>
>Any comments on the constitutional implications?
>
>Restaurants' male-server policy loses in court
>By Stacey Hartmann / Staff Writer
>A federal jury has found Cock of the Walk restaurants discriminated
>against
>women by a past practice of hiring only men as servers to portray
>historical
>figures who were the toughest fighters on riverboats.
>For the full story, see
>http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/03/16/cockwalk16.shtml\
>
>
>David E. Bernstein
>Associate Professor
>George Mason University
>School of Law
>3401 N. Fairfax Drive
>Arlington, VA 22201
>(703) 993-8089
>dbernste at wpgate.gmu.edu
><http://members.aol.com/deliotb/home.html>
>



"WorldSecure <brglaw.com>" made the following annotations on 04/03/00 10:49:22
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