Illegal Questions

According to Business Insider, it is illegal for an employer to ask certain questions during a job interview. I don’t know what the punishment is if you do, but I am certain there are lawyers lined up to explain that after the fact.

You can’t ask a job candidate if they have ever been arrested. Many years ago I interviewed a man for an accounting job. He had some pretty impressive credentials. I noticed on his application there was quite a gap in his employment history. He explained he had been in prison for embezzlement. He didn’t get the job. You can ask if someone has ever been convicted of a felony.

Also, you are not allowed to ask if a person is married. Why? It might their sexual orientation. I guess in some states, now that would be okay.

"Do you have any children?" is a no-no question. It is inappropriate. Really?

An employer cannot ask what country a person is from. This is illegal because it involves asking for a national origin. My financial controller has a number of employees that are originally from Nigeria. When they talk to me, I know they are not from East Texas.

Is English your first language can’t be asked. Again, we are back at the national origin issue. It is okay to ask if they speak, read and write any other languages. I used to speak pig Latin, but I forgot it. I could read and write it too.

Asking about what religious holidays a person observes is out. My response to that is, all of them that gets me out of work. You can ask if a person is available to work on Sundays. Isn’t that discrimination against Christians?

These are just a few of the stupid employment laws. No wonder we have so many unemployed. Nobody knows anything about them - like can they do the job and will they show up.

Fortunately for me, I am out of the hiring business. If I were still in a position to have to interview someone, I would do what one guy did to me during an interview. He told me to scoot my chair back about three feet from his desk, and tell him all about myself starting with the first grade.

That’s probably illegal today.

PMO
©2011