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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    100

    Default Discriminatory Interview Questions

    I have a general question relating to an interviewer asking discriminatory questions during an interview. Interviewers are prohibited from asking certain questions during the course of an interview, such as asking for the applicant's age, for example. If the interviewer asks a potentially discriminatory question anyway, how should an applicant handle it? Should they answer the question, opening themselves up for potential discrimination, or should they refuse to answer the question, potentially disqualifying themselves from hire based on their non-compliance during the interview?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    OH10
    Posts
    17,019

    Default Re: Discriminatory

    They should handle it in a polite, discreet manner.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Discriminatory Interview Questions

    The general rule is that interviewers should limit themselves to questions which are relevant to the job. If the question is of a personal nature, the interviewer should refrain from asking. Interviewers are also barred from asking questions about gender, age, race, religion, etc. However, if YOU bring up the topic, then the interviewer would not be liable for discrimination.

    Also remember that questions can be tweaked to make it legal while extracting the information they want. Asking for your age is not allowed. Asking if you're over 18 and therefore qualified to work, however, is perfectly legal.

    Of course, not everyone knows or follows the rules. In those cases you have a few options:
    1) answer the question. If the question doesn't seem like that big of an inconvenience, answering it might not be that bad.
    2) say politely that you don't wish to answer such a question.

    If they reject you for not answering an illegal question or providing an answer they don't what for that illegal question, is that really a company you want to work for though?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Discriminatory Interview Questions

    Well, let's start with the fact that your basic premise is wrong. Unless your unnamed state has a specific law specifically making such questions illegal, it is not the asking of the questions that is illegal; it is the use to which the employer puts the information.

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