Illegal Interview Questions

Candidate interviews are the accepted and traditionally the most powerful tool in the employee selection process.  Interviewers attempt to assess a candidate’s: 1) professional motivations, 2) skills and technical knowledge, 3) performance under stress or company dynamics, and 4) fit with team members and company culture.

 Questions asked during the interview process must be related to the specific job a candidate is applying for. Local, state, and federal laws address equal opportunity, discriminatory practices, and questions that can be asked during an interview process. Specifically, job discrimination is prohibited by the following federal laws:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits employment Discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; 

Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination;

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older;

Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments;

Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government; and

Civil Rights Act of 1991, which, among other things, provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.

 In addition to enforcing these laws, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the central agency responsible for oversight of all equal opportunity practices, policies, and regulations.

In short, questions concerning age, gender, sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, marital status, family status, etc. cannot be asked during an interview. A sample of illegal questions might include:

• When did you graduate from High School or College?  How old are you?
• Where were your parents born? Are you a US Citizen?
• What are your childcare arrangements while you work?
• Have you ever been arrested?
• In what branch of the Armed Forces did you serve? Where you honorably discharged?
• What does your spouse do for a living?

However, in the quest to obtain important candidate information as it applies to job or definitive position requirements, illegal questions can be unobjectionably restructured. Asked a different way:

• Are you over the age of 18?  What are your long term career plans?
• Are you authorized to work in the US?  What languages do you read, speak, and write fluently?
• This position requires travel or overtime on short notice, Can you travel?
• Have you ever been convicted of “X”? (The crime should be related to job performance).
• How will your experience in the Armed forces benefit the company?
• Can you relocate?

Outside the workplace, or possibly first meeting icebreakers, most illegal interview questions might seem like conversational chat. However, given today’s prevailing economic climate, it’s imperative that interviewers know governing laws and accepted interview practices to avoid professional embarrassment, candidate claims, or EEOC actions.