Although agreeing that the administrators of juvenile detention facilities, like those of female correctional facilities, “are entitled to substantial deference” when fashioning their employment policies, the Seventh Circuit rules that this discretion is not unlimited.

The Court revives a sex discrimination complaint brought by two female correctional officers who challenged a policy that required each unit of a juvenile detention facility to be staffed at all times by at least one officer of the same sex as the detainees housed on that unit. Since there were far more male units than female units at the facility, this policy had the effect of reducing the number of shifts available for female officers, and also reducing their opportunities for premium pay and overtime. Although a lower court decided that the gender-based policy was a bona fide occupational qualification, the Court reverses, finding that the employer did not prove that its sex-based assignments were “reasonably necessary” to achieve its goals.

“A defendant ultimately must introduce sufficient evidence to prove that the administrator’s judgment—that a particular sex classification is reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the institution—is ‘the product of a reasoned decision-making process, based on available information and experience,’” the Court says. Henry v. Milwaukee County