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Suspect Questions and How To Handle Them
Various Civil Rights Acts prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race,
color, sex, marital status, religion, or national origin. In general, questions that are lawful
relate specifically to the job, attitudes about work, health if relevant to the particular work,
past employment, educational background and capabilities. Just about everything else,
whether seemingly irrelevant (e.g., hobbies) or not, could be considered discriminatory.
Specifically, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has set up the
following subjects as the source of discriminatory questions: change of name, maiden or
former name, previous foreign address, birthplace of self or family, religion, complexion or
skin color, citizenship or national origin, military service, name and address of relative to be
notified person is ok arrest or conviction record, height (unless related to the job).
Single people, for example, cannot be asked if they live with their parents, get along
with them well, or plan marriage. Engaged people cannot be asked if they plan to marry,
what the occupation of the future spouse is, or plans for work after marriage. Married
people cannot be asked if they own a home, have debts, the spouse's occupation,
possibility of relocating, (for women) what the husband thinks of your working, what the
extra money will be used for, plans for a family, ages of children, and plans are not in
themselves unlawful, but they cannot be used for unlawful screening purposes.
When an individual is asked an illegal discriminatory or suspect question, there are
several alternatives one can follow.
1. Of course, if the interviewee thinks the question harmless and does not care about the
fact that it could be used as an unlawful screening device, she or he may simply go
ahead and answer it.
2. The interviewee can inform the interviewer that the question is a personal one and she
or he would be happy to answer any questions related to qualifications necessary for
the job.
3. The interviewee can ask what the thrust of the question is in relation to the job, what the
interviewer wants to know.
4. The interviewee can indicate that the question is not relevant, and go on to answer it
(e.g., "That question has no bearing on my qualifications for the position, but I'll answer
it anyway").
5. The interviewee can refuse to answer the question on the grounds that it is not related
to qualifications for the job.
6. The interviewee can ignore the question and respond with an indication that she or he is
willing to answer relevant questions.
7. Of course, the interviewee can stop the interviewer by expressing the belief that the
question is discriminatory.
There are several problems in responding to suspect questions, most of which center
around the belief that no responses or a hostile response to the question will decrease the
odds of obtaining the job, and obtaining the job may be more important than the problem
created by the suspect question. However, if the interviewer asks questions other than
those related to qualifications for the job, and the ultimate effect is an underrepresentation
of minorities and other protected groups in that employer's work force, then the company
could be vulnerable to a lawsuit. Remember that the interviewer may not realize that he or
she is asking improper questions, either through a lack of familiarity with the guidelines or
because he or she spontaneously asks questions without thinking about their discriminatory
impact (Hanna and Wilson, 1984).