4 ms·

I don't understand how it could possibly be legal in the first place since it gives away information that they are not allowed to ask for, such as marital statu

I don't understand how it could possibly be legal in the first place since it gives away information that they are not allowed to ask for, such as marital status and sexual orientation. Wouldn't it be equivalent to divulging that and so much more?

eli 14y ago
IANAL, but it's actually not illegal to ask about marital status. It's just illegal to discriminate based on martial status and if you ever landed in court, you might have a tough time explaining why you asked that question if it didn't affect the hiring decision. Likewise asking for social media password is pretty dangerous even if it's not specifically illegal because it opens you up to claims that you found something on the account that revealed some protected class status. (And, sadly, Title VII, the federal anti-discrimination law, does not protect against sexual orientation. In many states it is perfectly legal to fire people for being gay. A bill to fix this situation has been stalled in Congress for nearly two decades.)
- milesokeefe 14y ago
  At least in Texas, it's illegal just to ask, as long as the interviewee did not bring the topic up.
  - fffggg 14y ago
    Can you cite the relevant Texas statute? I don't believe you are correct. It is very common for confused employers to claim it is illegal, but as eli described this is an oversimplification and is not actually true.
    - kleim 14y ago
      As an interviewer how would you prove during a trial that by asking these kind of questions you were not intending to discriminate the interviewee?
      - fffggg 14y ago
        One obvious example would be if you had hired the interviewee in question. If so, it would be awfully difficult to demonstrate discrimination against them! Don't get me wrong, it is a very bad idea to ask these questions. But it is not illegal, strictly speaking.
  - eli 14y ago
    I do not think that is correct: http://law.onecle.com/texas/labor/21.051.00.html http://law.onecle.com/texas/labor/21.051.00.html Though of course you should still avoid asking questions about someone's protected status!
- lifeisstillgood 14y ago
  Legal to fire people for being gay? Seriously? Any examples?
  - eli 14y ago
    Map of current state laws: http://www.aclu.org/maps/non-discrimination-laws-state-state-information-map http://www.aclu.org/maps/non-discrimination-laws-state-state... A quick google finds two examples: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/education/07marquette.html?_r=2&#38 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/education/07marquette.html...; http://www.newschannel5.com/story/13620898/coach-loses-job-after-revealing-sexual-orientation http://www.newschannel5.com/story/13620898/coach-loses-job-a... The federal law that could fix this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Non-Discrimination_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Non-Discrimination_A... I would imagine if you pull up the testimony supporting this bill you would find many more examples.
    - lifeisstillgood 14y ago
      Well, I cannot take a lesbian applying for a job at a college run by Jesuits as an example of rampant sexual orientation discrimination. Is it possible that the federal laws have had a normalising affect - the different states may have different laws but majority of companies simply go with federal law as they probably don't even know different. I would be interested in state by state breakdowns of discrimination suits and see if they compare to each other or uk in any useful way. Google not helping here or my brain too dead.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
  - king_jester 14y ago
    This is definitely series. Sexual orientation and identity are not protected statuses in the United States (some states may have their own laws on the books for this), so being fired for that reason doesn't allow you to file a lawsuit for discrimination.
deleted 14y ago
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eli 14y ago

IANAL, but it's actually not illegal to ask about marital status. It's just illegal to discriminate based on martial status and if you ever landed in court, you might have a tough time explaining why you asked that question if it didn't affect the hiring decision. Likewise asking for social media password is pretty dangerous even if it's not specifically illegal because it opens you up to claims that you found something on the account that revealed some protected class status. (And, sadly, Title VII, the federal anti-discrimination law, does not protect against sexual orientation. In many states it is perfectly legal to fire people for being gay. A bill to fix this situation has been stalled in Congress for nearly two decades.)

milesokeefe 14y ago
At least in Texas, it's illegal just to ask, as long as the interviewee did not bring the topic up.
- fffggg 14y ago
  Can you cite the relevant Texas statute? I don't believe you are correct. It is very common for confused employers to claim it is illegal, but as eli described this is an oversimplification and is not actually true.
  - kleim 14y ago
    As an interviewer how would you prove during a trial that by asking these kind of questions you were not intending to discriminate the interviewee?
    - fffggg 14y ago
      One obvious example would be if you had hired the interviewee in question. If so, it would be awfully difficult to demonstrate discrimination against them! Don't get me wrong, it is a very bad idea to ask these questions. But it is not illegal, strictly speaking.
- eli 14y ago
  I do not think that is correct: http://law.onecle.com/texas/labor/21.051.00.html http://law.onecle.com/texas/labor/21.051.00.html Though of course you should still avoid asking questions about someone's protected status!
lifeisstillgood 14y ago
Legal to fire people for being gay? Seriously? Any examples?
- eli 14y ago
  Map of current state laws: http://www.aclu.org/maps/non-discrimination-laws-state-state-information-map http://www.aclu.org/maps/non-discrimination-laws-state-state... A quick google finds two examples: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/education/07marquette.html?_r=2&#38 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/education/07marquette.html...; http://www.newschannel5.com/story/13620898/coach-loses-job-after-revealing-sexual-orientation http://www.newschannel5.com/story/13620898/coach-loses-job-a... The federal law that could fix this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Non-Discrimination_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Non-Discrimination_A... I would imagine if you pull up the testimony supporting this bill you would find many more examples.
  - lifeisstillgood 14y ago
    Well, I cannot take a lesbian applying for a job at a college run by Jesuits as an example of rampant sexual orientation discrimination. Is it possible that the federal laws have had a normalising affect - the different states may have different laws but majority of companies simply go with federal law as they probably don't even know different. I would be interested in state by state breakdowns of discrimination suits and see if they compare to each other or uk in any useful way. Google not helping here or my brain too dead.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
- king_jester 14y ago
  This is definitely series. Sexual orientation and identity are not protected statuses in the United States (some states may have their own laws on the books for this), so being fired for that reason doesn't allow you to file a lawsuit for discrimination.

deleted 14y ago

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