Avoiding Illegal Interview Questions

Short of firing someone, conducting an interview is the task managers dread most. The process of culling through resumes is time consuming in the extreme, and even when that process is finished it doesn't get any easier. One of the biggest challenges hiring managers face today is knowing what questions an applicant can and cannot legally be asked during an interview.

There are many interview questions that are illegal according to labor laws. Some things that you cannot use as a barrier to employment, such as gender and race, don't really fit this discussion because they are obvious at the time of the interview. But other questions that would be considered discriminatory cannot and should not be asked.

You cannot ask an applicant about their religious affiliation (or lack thereof), their sexual orientation, or their marital status. You cannot ask the applicant if they have children; questions of this sort could be seen as an attempt to discover a person's marital status as well. Forbidding such a question also ensures that you are not excluding a candidate because they might miss work due to a child's illness or school function. Furthermore, it keeps people with spouses and/or children from being passed over as a way of keeping the company's insurance premiums low.

There are other things cannot be asked. You should never ask an applicant about their personal life or lifestyle. While this could impact their performance, it cannot be used to exclude them from being hired. You cannot ask the person if they do drugs. If your organization is concerned about this, it should be covered under a drug testing policy.

You can ask about a person's military service, including National Guard and Reserve service, but should not ask if they think they will be deployed to active duty in the future as a way of excluding them.