There is an update on the Fourth Circuit decision that ruled that the FBI could reject a male agent candidate who failed his physical fitness test by not being able to do one additional push-up. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court justices refused to hear an appeal from a Fourth Circuit ruling that differing physical fitness test requirements for FBI agents based on gender were not discriminatory because they used “gender-normed” standards that required the same level of fitness for all trainees.
Since the USSC chose not to take the case, this means that the Fourth Circuit opinion stands. Although that decision talked about inherent physical differences between men and women, employers should be wary to try to apply that logic to anything other than physical fitness tests.