Bona fide occupational qualification

In employment law, a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) (US), bona fide occupational requirement (BFOR) (Canada), or genuine occupational qualification (GOQ) (UK) is a quality or an attribute that employers are allowed to consider when making decisions on the hiring and retention of employees—a quality that when considered in other contexts would constitute discrimination in violation of civil rights employment law. A BFOQ can legally justify discrimination if it is directly related to the realization of the business's function, supported by reliable evidence, validated through widely accepted research consensus, and if proving that a prospective hire is an exception to the recognized consensus would cause undue hardship for the employer.^[1] Such qualifications must be listed in the employment advertisement.^{[citation needed]}