Can an Employer Take a Photo of an Interviewee

[ehops]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: WA

We are hiring people to work on the floor in a non-union facility. We interview 'panel style' with six people on the panel. As one might guess, our applicant pool is massive because so many people are looking for work. We have been interviewing for four days, about ten people per day. HR says we are not allowed to take photos of the people we have interviewed. The panel would really like to have these pictures attached to the interview questions as an aid to simply remember the faces and the interviews when making a decision.

Is my HR rep correct or am I allowed to take photos to help remember the interviews. All photos would be of people we have had in to interview and all photos would be simple 'passport' style photos.

Thanks for your time.

[cbg]

Listen to your HR rep. While not specifically prohibited by law, it is a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad idea. Are you getting the idea that it would be a really, really, really, really, really, foolish move on the panel's part?

Taking photos of the applicants could very easily be used, by the applicant, as supporting evidence that they had been discriminated against due to their race, or age, or national origin, or all three. The fact that you took them of all applicants would not work in your favor, as it could be used as evidence that you were looking to hire ONLY applicants of certain races, or ages, or genders. It would be even worse to take them only of some people.

I cannot impress upon you enough what a horrible idea this is. You would be setting yourself up for a discrimination claim, and the only question left unanswered would be how many zeros you had to put on the check.

Do not do this. Really. Please. For your own sake. DO NOT do this. This is one of the worst ideas I can even think of. If you were TRYING to find a way to ensure that you got sued for discrimination, and were LOOKING for a way to make sure you lost the case, you could not have come up with a better one.

BAD idea. Very bad idea. Am I making it clear what a bad idea this is?

[PattyPA]

cbg, why don't you tell us how you really feel?

[ehops]

Thanks for the reply- we did not take pictures.

It's too bad we live in a time where every decision we make is for fear of being sued and everyone walks around looking for reasons to sue because they know they can.

So why was your answer to the person asking about pictures attached to the application not so pointed (coarse, abrupt)? I would think that person's scenario would have ellicited a much more severe lashing.

[cbg]

What are you talking about?

[KeyWestDan]

I can understand the desire to have photographs of the applicants.

However, as explained, it is a VERY bad idea for a variety of reasons. It can easily come back to bite you in a big way.

I own a HR company.

This one is probably in one of the seminar solicitations we get entitled "How to get sued into the ground and have EEOC crawl up your butt."

[PandorasBox]

I agree that taking photos is a horrible idea. Don't even make notes like "blonde haired woman" or "guy with a cane".

Our society is very sue-happy.

Jane Smith will sue because you did not hire her because is blonde.
Jamal will sue because you did not hire him because he is black.
Ashish will sue because you did hire him because he is an immigrant from India.
Joe Doe will sue because you did not hire him as he uses a cane.
Mary Smith will sue because you did not hire her because of her religion - she was wearing a necklace with a religious symbol....

You get the picture....

Personally, I wish colleges and employers would only be able to see a identification number and qualifications/grades/history. No name, no age, no sex, no race, no nationality, no religion....