Illegal Interview Questions for Employment

I recently attended a job interview that left me stunned for words and woozie from discrimination. I was asked two very inappropriate and possibly unlawful Interview questions. The first being how many children I have. The question that surfaced in my mind, If I were a man, would I have received that question? The second question is the real doozie- they wanted to know if all my children were by the same father. I was totally insulted, and pondered upon the nerve of the director who asked me such a thing. These questions may be breaking the discrimination law, based on sex. This inappropriate question made me wonder what are some other inappropriate and highly speculative questions being asked in job interviews across the US.

Discrimination Laws cover the following Federally protected classes: race- Civil Rights Act of 1964, color-Civil Rights Act of 1964, religion-Civil Rights Act of 1964, national origin-Civil Rights Act of 1964, age(over 40)- Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, sex- Equal Pay Act of 1963 & Civil Rights Act of 1964, Familial Status, disability- Vocational Rehabilitation and Other Rehabilitation Services of 1973 & Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and veteran status-Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.

An employer should never participate in asking questions that are protected by the Civil Rights Act, and should discourage the potential employee from sharing such information. It is not an employer’s business to hear personal, protected, and potentially damaging information. The possible answers to such questions are based on conjecture and should not be allowed within the deciding factor of employment.

The Following are acceptable interview questions, that will save employers from themselves through biased curiosity, and should be standard among all interviews:

1. What is your previous job experience?

2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

3. Are you eligible to work in the US?

4. What schedules would you be able to work?

5. Can you perform the essential functions of the job?

6. Can you work on weekends(as long as weekend work is required)?

7. Are you over the age of 18?

8. Have you ever been convicted of a crime?

9. How would you handle or deal with certain circumstances that are unique to the position that is being applied for ( fill in the blanks).

10. What is your level of technical, management, sales experience, or any other essential job function unique to the position.

Employers that stay away from personal questions and practice asking questions relating to the individuals experience that aligns with the job being interviewed for will stay far away from Civil Rights Violations, and keep their companies out of harm’s way.

The following list are illegal and or inappropriate, and should always be avoided:

1. How long have been in the United States?

2. What does your name mean?

3. How did you learn to speak Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, ect.?

4. Do you plan to have children?

5. What does your spouse do for a living?

6. Do you have children?

7. Do you all of your children have the same father?

8. What are your child care arrangements?

9. Do you have pre-existing health concerns?

10. Are you using medication?

11. What religious holidays do you celebrate?

12. How often do you attend church/

13. Have you ever been arrested, or caught driving drunk?

14. Was your Military discharge honorable or dishonorable?

15. Have you ever sued an employer?

16. Have you ever filed a Workmen’s Comp Suit?

17. How much is your current weight?

Although an employer may think that the inappropriate questions are relevant they are not, and should never be asked. If an individual finds themselves in a situation where a question is being asked during an interview, or in the workplace you have a couple of different options:

1. You can ask for the relevance or the origin of the question?

2. Ignore and the change the subject.

3. Politely refuse to answer the question based on pertinence of the information.

4. Answer the question.

I caution you reader, the more that people allow, people will do. I know the economy is bad and jobs are difficult to come by, but please stand firm in your convictions. Employees are allowed a personal life, privacy. Although people have curious natures, we as employees cannot indulge those inclinations, if we do we open the flood gates of discrimination upon out desperate unemployed heads.