Legal Issues in Interviewing
Anne Sandberg
Charges of discrimination in hiring are serious issues for employers, and as an interviewer, you undertake tremendous responsibility in representing your organisation properly. Different countries around the world have different laws with respect to legality in hiring and it is certainly important to know the rules in your own part of the world and in the countries in which your company operates. In general, however, people who come in to interview for jobs expect to be treated fairly and without discrimination based on factors other than their qualifications for the job. Charges of discrimination arise when a candidate feels that he or she were treated unfairly because of they belong to a particular group, such as an ethnic group, because of their gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, whether they have children or not – the list is a long one! Often, discrimination is unintentional – that is, interviewers treat a candidate in a way that is misunderstood by the candidate and offence is taken when offence was not intentional. It is important that you treat all job candidates with respect and dignity, and even then, you are not immune to charges of discrimination.
Remember that every person who you meet in a job interview is a member of the general public. Company reputation in the marketplace drives business and every candidate you interview forms an opinion about the company based on his or her meeting with you, everyone is a potential customer and word-of-mouth is powerful.
Sometimes you may have a real concern about someone’s ability to do the job and you need to address the issue but don’t want to be accused of discrimination. For example, consider a female candidate in her 30’s who mentions that she has four children at home. In this case you may wonder how she will manage her job and her children and be tempted to ask about her childcare provisions. Strictly speaking, this is an area that is rather private and you should not ask about it directly. You can, however, state any job requirement and ask the candidate if he or she can meet that requirement:
“This position requires that you be at work every day from 8:00 am until 4:30pm Monday through Friday and since you will be answering the phones during that time, it is essential that you be here and be on time. Is that a requirement that you can meet?”
Stating your expectation clearly is better than trying to solve candidates’ childcare problems for them. Simply state the requirement and ask the candidate if he or she can meet that requirement; this is called careful phrasing.
Laws and regulations vary around the world, and even within the same country (i.e. state to state). Further, case law changes interpretation of the law all the time. In the U.S., for example, discrimination based on an individual’s sexual preference is illegal in California, but not in many other states.
If hiring abroad, you need to know the law in those countries, as well, and customs, too. For example, in Mexico it is common practice for an employer to go out to a candidate’s home in the evening and interview his or her family in addition to interviewing the candidate in the office during work hours. In Malaysia it is common to advertise a job opening to a specific ethnic group, as employee populations are carefully balanced so that equal numbers of the three dominant minorities (Chinese Malaysians, local Malay and Indians) are represented.
In the U.S., the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with disabilities from employment discrimination with a very individualized interpretation of law that is the realm of specialists (e.g. attorneys and HR professionals).
Pre-employment practices are risky business when it comes to discrimination in the workplace, whether intentional or unintentional, and it is better to play it safe by involving a professional early on in the process if there are questions about safe practices.
Articles
Finding Candidates
- 10 Reasons to Hire Vets
- Hire Older Workers
- Improving Candidate Quality
- Sourcing 101
- Sourcing Candidates Well
- Tips for Building Employment-Related Websites
- U.S. Employ of People with Disabilities: Free Workshops
- Virtual College Recruiting
Interviewing Basics
- 10 Commandments of Recruiting
- 5 Keys to Successful Hiring
- 7 Tips for Successful Phone Interviews
- Behavioral Interviewing Basics
- Contrary Evidence Questions
- Interview Questions: Do's and Don'ts
- Interviewing Opening and Closing Remarks
- Interviews: Common Weaknesses
- Mistakes Amateur Interviewers Make
- Phone Screen Interview Mistakes
- Probing Techniques Explained
- Screening Interviewing: Top 10 Red Flags
- Strengthen the Validity of Your Interviews
- Telephone Interviews: Basics
- Ten Bad Listening Habits of Interviewers
- Types of Interviews
- Typical Probes and Follow up Questions
- What Do Interviewers Need to Know to be Effective?
Interviewing Best Practices
- 7 Keys to Effective Selection Interviews
- A Closer Look at Behavior-Based Interviewing
- Advantages / Disadvantages of Interviewing
- Applying Core Competencies to Selection Interviews
- Are You Really a Behavior-Based Interviewer?
- Assessing Speaking and Listening Skills
- Best Practices in Interviewing Candidates
- Deadly Interview Mistakes
- Death by Interview
- Ensure Hiring Success in Every Situation
- Executive Assessment Should Be Mandatory
- Generational Interviewing
- Hiring Interview + Strategic Applicant Management
- Hold Evening and Off-Time Interviews
- How to Interview a Top Performer
- Improve your Interviewing Techniques
- Interview Questions to Assess Soft Skills
- Interviewing for Ethics
- Interviewing Millennials
- Interviewing: Business or Psychology
- Metrics Interview
- Peeling Back the Onion
- The Positives of Panel Interviews
- Time for Candidate Advocacy?
- Tips for Conducting Successful Interviews
- Two Critical Interviewing Questions
Laws & Documentation
- Applicant Reference Release
- At Will Employment Release
- Avoid Negligent Hiring Mistakes
- Employee Referral Program Metrics
- Fair Labor Standards Act Information
- Four Interview Questions Never to Ask
- Giving Employee References
- Hiring Compliance Guidelines
- Hiring for Small Business
- Interviewing People with Disabilities
- Job Denial Letter
- Legal Issues in Interviewing
- Minimize Employment Risks: Document
- SAMPLE Employment Policy
- SAMPLE Letter: Educational Records Check
- SAMPLE Letter: Reference Check
- Ten Safe Hiring Tools
- What is Negligent Hiring
Line Manager / Recruiting Partnership
- Defending Candidates to Hiring Managers
- Interlocking Core Competency Interviews
- Internal Application Process
- Making Internships Work for You
- Making the Case for Behavioral Interviewing
- Non-Traditional Merit Pay Alternatives
- OFCCP Definition of an Internet Applicant
- Why Managers Shouldn't Do Most Hiring
- Workforce Planning: Strategic Staffing Strategy
Post-Interview
Pre-Planning & Retention
- Bonus or Incentive?
- Brand-Building on a Budget
- Build a First-Rate Hiring Process
- Closing the Deal
- Compensation Plans: An Overview
- Conducting an Exit Interview
- Good Hiring Starts with a Good Job Profile
- Improve the Quality of the Employment Function
- Interview Process Problems
- Interview the Job Before the Candidates
- Job Description Template-Link Pay to Performance
- Linking Pay to Company Performance
- Selecting and Using Salary Surveys
- Succession Planning
- Succession Planning: Identifying Top Performers
- Using a Pre-Interviewing Questionnaire
- Winning the War for Talent
- Worker Shortage by 2010: Preparation
Reading the Candidate
- Beware of Those Who Boast
- Blind Man's Bluff
- Decision, Decisions: Choosing the Better Applicant
- Detecting Deceit in Interviews
- Little White Lies on Resumes
- Suspend Judgment Until the Interview is Over
Recruiting Basics
- College Recruiting Basics
- College Recruiting Essentials
- Cut Down on Interview No Shows
- Discouraging Low Quality Applicants
- Don't Hold Too Many Interviews
- Job Descriptions: Why are they Important?
- New Strategies for Screening Job Candidates
- Preventing Resume Overload with Questionnaires
- Resume Review Basics
- Test Validation Explained
- The Value of Person-Organization Fit
- Three Companies Cut Turnover with Tests
Recruiting Best Practices
- 25 Telltale Signs of the Wrong Candidate
- 5 Overlooked Ways to Hire Winners
- Asking the Right Recruitment Questions
- Attracting Your Competitor's Employees
- BPR.......for Recruiters!
- Candidate Engagement
- Cloud Recruiting
- Evaluate Your Capture Strategy
- Hiring Best Practices
- How Do You Attract and Retain the Best People?
- How to Attract Applicants to Undesirable Jobs
- How to Attract, Develop and Retain Best People
- How to Find and Keep Valued Employees
- Ignorance and the Human Condition
- Onboarding Success Secrets
- Secrets to Non-Profit Hiring
- Selecting Top Management Talent
- Semi-Active Candidates are Best Bets
- Six Core Selling Principles
- Skills Based Recruiting: When, not How
- Smart Choices: How to Hire the Best
- Strategy for Hiring the Best This Year
- The Uses and Misuses of Personality Tests
- Top 10 Employee Selection Mistakes & Solutions
- Treat Candidates with the Carbon Rule