How to Handle Illegal Interview Questions

Yahoo lists some illegal interview questions as follows:

• The good news is that interviewers are not allowed to ask you your age during an interview. With some rare exceptions, the only age- related question they can ask is if you're over the age of 18.

• While illegal interview questions surrounding relationships, marriage and children are generally more problematic for female job candidates, protection from discrimination applies equally to male candidates. Basically, you should be suspicious if you are asked any questions about your marital status, your family status, your future plans for children or your child care accommodations.

• Interviewers are not allowed to ask if you are a U.S. citizen or ask where you were born. However, they can ask if you are legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. If you are asked about your race, color, religion or national origin, be aware -- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from making employment decisions based on such factors.

They then suggest three ways you might answer these questions:

• Just answer the question. If you don't mind providing the information and you don't want to make waves, you can respond to the question and move on to the next one.

• Refuse to answer the question. Inform the interviewer that the question doesn't seem to be legal or relevant to the specific requirements of the job.

• Don't answer the question, but answer the intent behind the question. This is usually the best option, since it allows you to provide a tactful answer without sacrificing your rights.

I really haven't been put in this situation, but my advice would be to simply answer the question as long as it's not going to be seen as a negative by the employer. If it is, I'd answer the intent behind the question. I'd only do these if I really liked the job and wanted to be considered for it. If I had decided by then that I didn't want the position anyway, I'd probably either inform them that it was an illegal question or simply end the interview.

My experience is that people who ask illegal interview questions don't really mean any harm, they're simply ignorant of the law. So I try and give them a bit of a break. That said, if someone would knowingly press me on an illegal interview question, I'd bring up the issue, ask to speak to their supervisor and/or my HR contact, and really make them sweat a bit. Personally, I wouldn't file any sort of lawsuit/complaint as I'm sure the resulting hassle from it would be worse than the original problem -- and the chances of anything positive coming from it are virtually zero.

How about you? Have you ever been in a situation where you were asked an illegal interview question? What did you do?

Comments

[Bob]

As a supervisor in the Navy who was in charge of hiring civilians, I was told to make a list of questions and I had to use that list of questions for each person I interviewed. It really handcuffed me at times but it kept me from getting into trouble. The list was pre-approved by HRO The one suggestion I would have for anyone being interviewed is if they feel like they have been asked inappropriate questions, be sure to document it as soon as the interview is over. I am glad however that you mentioned that most illegal questions are asked in innocence or ignorance and not for any harm.

[Dave]

I have the problem of asking assistants (i.e., daycare, housecleaning) whether they are authorized to work in the U.S. Not that I'm running for office or anything but still...

[MattJ]

I'm positive that I was asked about my citizenship by my current employer - being a US citizen is necessary to work most of our contracts. The one non-citizen we had (he has since gotten citizenship) working for us even had to wear a nametag that was a different color than the rest of us indicating his status.

[LotharBot]

There are certain employment situations (like government/defense contractors) where citizenship status matters. In some situations, you're even subject to a "lifestyle polygraph" where they look to see if there's anything a foreign government could blackmail you with -- which makes questions about relationships, family, and children completely expected.

If you're not in such a situation, though, the questions are legally off-limits. That doesn't make them bad questions. The interviewer might (innocently) want to understand more about you, to understand your motivations and your personality, and asking about family is one of the ways people naturally go about understanding each other.

I'd say, if someone asks such a question in an interview, you should point out to them that it's actually illegal to ask (so they know for the next time)... and if you think they've got nefarious motives, refuse to answer, but if you think they're just curious, go ahead and give them an answer you're comfortable with. It doesn't hurt you to be friendly, and it doesn't hurt you to demonstrate that you're generally knowledgeable (knowing that such a question is off-limits certainly demonstrates an uncommon breadth of knowledge!)

[Jim]

In almost all cases discriminating on citizenship is in fact illegal. There are some rare exceptions for citizen discrimination in some govt. jobs. Dept. of Defense jobs can sometimes legally require US citizenship. Its the exception to the rule.

[Miranda]

7 years ago I was just married looking for a job after college graduation. Wouldn't it be nice to know then what I know now! Every interviewer (they all happened to be male) in the small Utah town I was in at the time asked me 1. Why I was looking for a job and whether my husband was employed and 2. Whether I planned to have children soon. Yikes!

[Kat]

I was asked several illegal questions many years ago. I asked the interviewer if he realized he couldn't ask the questions and he said yes - with a smile. Since I was desperate for employment during a downturn, I answered them and got the job. It turns out that it was indicative of the way the guy ran the division of a multinational company. It eventually caught up with him but it took 5 years. He did a ton of unethical, illegal stuff but wasn't held accountable up until the time he got canned. He threatened my job when I refused to support him in his misdeeds. I was eventually able to find another job and got the heck out of there. He did such a great job of digging his own grave that he hasn't held a position of responsibility since in the industry. Sometimes there is justice.

[Colin]

I've had a case where an employer was soliciting illegal information through a question that was, strictly speaking, legal. The question was something like:

"We have a lot of Mormons in the company. You can't come in here after the weekend talking about girls or parties. Is that going to be a problem?" I don't think there was anything about my dress or demeanor that would have made anyone think I would be a problem.

Of course, I said it wouldn't be a problem, but what I think the interviewer was after was "not a problem, I'm Mormon too".

No way to prove it... maybe I'm just overthinking it. And it was years ago. But it certainly bugged me at the time.

[ladam8518]

I've gotten the marriage and family question at every interview. Most of the time it is just innocent small talk.

In my current job, I do know it influenced which department I was hired in. The interviewer informed me that the engineering position I applied for was really three different positions, one of which would require 6-9 months of travel each year and if my current and immediate future family plans would be receptive to this amount of travel. Technically the information wasn't needed as the intent was travel availability. I answered that I was soon to be getting married and the interviewer suggested that perhaps I opt out of consideration for the travel position even though I was the perfect candidate for it. His concern was the affect on family life since I can always transfer into that division after 18 months.

Another time of note was when I applied for a position at a small family owned manufacturing firm that provided custom engineered products and systems. I was asked, presumably because family values was a core business quality. Even though I was single I was hired, if I was competing against a married applicant with family, I have no clue what would have happened.

[becky]

I am also from Utah so I find it interesting that there are two Utah-related comments already in this post. I agree with you FMF, I am a woman and tend to believe that this type of situation is more likely to happen to a woman than to a man.

I interviewed for a position in with the partner in charge of this company's L.A. office (the office headquarters were located in Salt Lake City, Utah). The partner was young and from SLC, Utah - I also presume that he was Mormom, but I could be wrong. The interview was going fine and then towards the end he asked me what my plans were for marriage and children. I don't exactly remember how I responded - I believe that I somehow deflected the question. But at that moment I interpretted this as the partner demonstrating that he wasn't experienced enough in management and maturity to be anyone that I wanted to work for...

I have never ever had this type of question asked to me at any of my other interviews and I was shocked to have this happen to me!

[Meg]

Hmmm... I wonder if it would be a good idea even to take off your wedding band or engagement ring before job interviews, at least if you're a woman. With guys it seems that being a "family man" is a good thing because you have a reason to stay (to support your family) and perhaps have help at home (i.e. your wife). But people still often assume that a woman is going to quit to go have a family or miss work to take care of their kids. And yes, as a married but childfree woman, I know how unfair it is to assume not only that, but that every woman is even planning to have kids.