Illegal Questions in an Interview

Let me preface this post by stating that INAL – I’m Not A Lawyer. Even so, I know as a result of countless management training classes that certain questions are off limits in interviews. Topics like age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, etc., are simply lawsuit bait. But not everyone knows this.

For instance, we sometimes pull in random engineers to help conduct technical interviews, and they typically have not had anything resembling interview training. So they might ask questions that they think are perfectly okay, but which come close to the line:

“Do you like Indian food? I find it too spicy.”

“Can you repeat that? I have difficulty understanding foreign accents.”

“You sound Russian – are you? So is my girlfriend”.

“’Beltran’ – Is that a Spanish Name?”

“I don’t see your college graduation date listed on your resume. When did you go to school?”

“Do you have any requirements related to child day care?”

“Would you have any concerns with working on Saturdays or Sundays?”

(*) “If you relocate here, will your spouse need to find a new job?”

(*) “Do you own or rent your home?”

These questions may seem harmless to some people, but others might raise an eyebrow. As an interviewer it’s best to avoid such questions altogether; conversely as a candidate it’s best to deal with the matter diplomatically since the interviewer may not know any better.

(*) As a candidate I have myself been asked these questions by recruiters, who should really know better. But perhaps they can get away with as they are independent agencies rather than a hiring company. INAL.