Final answer:
The restaurant's hiring practice of exclusively employing blonde women aged 18 to 25 as hostesses is an example of disparate treatment, a form of discrimination often at odds with anti-discrimination laws unless justified by bona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQs), which is unlikely to be applicable in this scenario.
Step-by-step explanation:
The hiring practice described by the student, where a restaurant hires only blonde women who are 18 to 25 years old as hostesses, represents an example of disparate treatment. This type of discrimination occurs when employees or potential employees are treated differently based on protected characteristics such as race, gender, religion, or age without a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) that would justify such treatment. Determinations of BFOQs involve several tests, among them whether the job cannot be performed by all or substantially all members of the excluded group if hiring members of the excluded group would undermine the essence of the business operation, and if no reasonable accommodations can be made.
In the case of the hiring practices at the described restaurant, these would probably not meet the criteria for BFOQ, because having a hostess of a different hair color or gender would not likely affect the fundamental business operation, and there is no indication that reasonable accommodations would be impossible or impracticable. Moreover, preferences for particular aesthetics do not typically constitute a BFOQ, as evident in the past litigation where restaurants with similar practices have had to settle out of court for discriminatory hiring. Thus, the restaurant's hiring practice could be legally challenged under anti-discrimination laws.