What to Do When Employers Ask Illegal Questions

What to Do When Employers Ask Illegal QuestionsWhat to Do When Employers Ask Illegal QuestionsWhen youre in a job interview, you may think that the hiring team has the right to ask you any question they want to help determine your fit for the position. But in fact, there are quite a few questions that are illegal for employers to ask when interviewing. Below are a few tips on what to do when employers ask illegal questions during an interview.According to FindLaw, employers arent allowed to ask questions relating to an applicants background or attributes that are protected by law. These protected areas include (but are not limited to) marital status, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, gender, parental status, pregnancy status, arrest record, national origin, and disabilities.What specific types of questions are off-limits? Those that focus on unearthing personal information about a candidate that has nothing to do with the job.Here are a few examples of when employers ask illeg al questionsAre you single? Are you engaged? Are you divorced? Are you married, and if so, does your spouse work? An employer may ask questions about your marital status to try to determine how much time youd be able to commit to your job, or to guess about your dedication to work in the future by figuring out whether or not you might be likely to have children. Yet this hidden agenda on the parte of the interviewer has nothing to do with the jobs duties, and its illegal to ask these types of questions.Do you have children? If so, how many and how old are they? If not, are you planning to have children soon? Who will watch them while you are working?According to Business Insider, its not legal for hiring managers to ask any questions about whether or not you currently have children or intend to have them in the future. Even if youve volunteered the information that you have children during pre-interview chit-chat, its still not legal for the employer to follow up during interview qu estioning to ask about your plans for child care and how that might affect your ability to get your job done.How did you get that physical disability? Even if a disability is clearly visible, the law prohibits employers from inquiring about it under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This includes prying into anything about a potential hires physical characteristics that might suggest a disability, as well as the disability itself.3 Ways to Handle Illegal bewerberinterview QuestionsIf you are asked questions like these, FindLaw recommends responding with one of the following optionsPoint out to the interviewer that youre aware that the question is illegal. This needs to be done tactfully, but you can choose to put the employer on alert that youre aware the question is off-limits.Consider answering the question. While you dont need to answer an illegal question, FindLaw notes that answering it in some way- whether truthfully or not- is another possibility to get you through t he interview.File a claim. If you know youve been asked an illegal interview question, you can opt to contact your local U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment field office. You may choose to file a claim against the employer, particularly if you feel youve been discriminated against in the job market.If in doubt about whether a particular type of question is illegal, consult with a lawyer for legal guidance. You deserve fair treatment during the hiring process, so know your rightsReaders, do you know what to do when employers ask illegal questions? Have you ever been in one of the above situations? Share with us below