Nine Illegal Questions in an Interview
When you graduate from a university, college, or business school with a degree in business, you will quickly transition into corporate America; this means lots of interviews. Before stepping into those interviews, familiarize yourself with the laws that protect you, the employee, including questions that are illegal for an employer to ask you.
- “How many days were you sick last year?” Employers are not permitted to know this information. They can, however, ask how many days you missed, so be careful. The law protects from the specific disclosure of sickness because an employee’s immune system should not affect whether or not they are hired.
- “Do you have any disabilities?” Employers are not allowed to ask about disabilities thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act. They can, however, ask if you will be able to perform the duties of your job.
- “Have you ever received workers compensation or suffered job injuries?” Employees do not have to disclose their previous job injury or work comp history with new employers. Like a medical record, this is purely confidential.
- “Do you use / are you on a lawful drug?” While employers have every right to make sure you are not using illegal substances, they are not allowed to ask about lawful drugs (unless they’re screening for unlawful drugs.) It can, however, benefit your employers to know about health hazards you have like asthma; this helps prevents issues in the event something happens.
- “What’s your age, gender, martial status, race, ethnic origin, and/or religion?” Employers are not entitled to know things that are discrimination-based. Even subtle versions of these questions are illegal during an interview, such as, “Where did you grow up?” or “Where is your spouse from?”
- “Do you have child care available?” It’s not an employer’s right to ask about children unless they think child abuse is involved. How you handle child care is your prerogative, not theirs.
- “Is your [family member] employed?” The employment of family members is a privacy you are entitled to by law.
- “Are you gay?” Asking about sexual preference during an interview is prohibited. Even mentioning it is prohibited. This is part of not discriminating against employees.
- “Do you have criminal arrest records?” Employers may ask about convictions in some instances, but never your criminal arrest records. Felonies will follow you around, though.
