3 ms·

>>My partners are concerned that when you have this baby you are going to lose interest in the company and not be a good CEO As a practical matter this is a le

>>My partners are concerned that when you have this baby you are going to lose interest in the company and not be a good CEO As a practical matter this is a legitimate question. For example, "why are you taking this job when you plan to be busy for the next 6 months?" (or even longer).

tptacek 13y ago
No, it isn't a legitimate question. In fact, in an employment setting, it's an unlawful question. It presumes that the interviewer can extrapolate from the probably irrelevant detail of someone's pregnancy status to their ability to perform after the birth; refuting that bogus extrapolation requires the candidate to explain and defend their child care arrangements and home life. As a practical matter, if someone in my company asked a candidate a question like that, premised on the candidate's ability to perform a job based on pregnancy status, I would fire the interviewer --- both because they were playing games with the most important function of the firm, and because they'd have exposed us to legal risk.
- danielweber 13y ago
  I once thought that everyone knew not to ask things like this, but people don't. Story: at a friend's place of employment, they were having an interview for a secretary, as the previous two secretaries had both left after their maternity leaves. During a group interview, one guy asks a candidate "hey, you're not planning on getting pregnant, are you?" Did I mention this was at a law firm, and that the guy asking this was a lawyer? Yeah. The poo instantly hit the fan from about a billion different directions. Everyone in the room, not just the guy who asked the question, got a very very long talk with HR. It entered company lore as "really stupid and expensive mistake this one guy did." Whenever I'm on the questioning side, I always go over this with my coworkers.
- dingaling 13y ago
  As a man I have been asked whether my performance at work has been affected by raising children. When I made a mistake I was asked 'Are your children affecting your sleep? Perhaps you should take some time off as you seem to be losing focus.' Other feedback that came in was 'He seems disinterested in the tasks assigned' with the implication that my children were more interesting than my work ( which of course they are ). Would you also fire anyone who asked those questions of a man?
  - tptacek 13y ago
    It's presumably just as unlawful, and obviously the same kind of bullshit. Yes.
- mdorazio 13y ago
  How is this an unlawful question? As far as I know, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act only applies to employees and those seeking employment. In the setting of an individual seeking funding for their business, the law doesn't apply. Furthermore, from an objective point of view how can you argue that pregnancy doesn't affect an individual's expected ability to perform as an entrepreneur after the birth? In my opinion this is a valid question to ask both expecting parents. One of my male coworkers recently had a child and his work performance in the month since then has been noticeably worse than it was prior to the birth. Babies take a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of lost sleep no matter help much help you have. We're not talking about hiring someone - we're talking about investing in the business they are running. Any major pending commitments, pregnancy included, seem fair to ask about.
  - tptacek 13y ago
    I just said: it's unlawful in an employment context. It's an interesting question as to what, if any, discrimination laws actually apply in practice with investors.
    - mdorazio 13y ago
      Ah, I misread your response since the parent comment seemed to be in reference specifically to the article.
- PeterisP 13y ago
  It's an illegal question because we as the society have chosen to value family interests above the employer interests and made specific laws to prohibit it. It is a legitimate question because from a purely practical employer's point of view it IS important. As opposed to irrelevant questions such as ethnicity/religion/sexual orientation which don't affect performance, having a baby does require taking some time off, and does have an impact on performance, sleep, ability to work 100hour weeks, etc - a number of medical conditions fall into this category as well; you can't require a candidate to disclose that they have cancer and have planned chemotherapy, but if you could, then it would make sense to do so. Knowing the answer is an advantage to the employer and disadvantage to some employees; therefore, if it wasn't legally prohibited, 100% of HR handbooks would actually mandate to always ask such questions - as far as I know, before those laws were implemented, it was the recommended practice to do so. And since the particular scenario of the original post isn't an employment scenario and it's not prohibited - it's likely in the investor's best interests to ask that question; the only downside is a possible PR impact.

tptacek 13y ago

No, it isn't a legitimate question. In fact, in an employment setting, it's an unlawful question. It presumes that the interviewer can extrapolate from the probably irrelevant detail of someone's pregnancy status to their ability to perform after the birth; refuting that bogus extrapolation requires the candidate to explain and defend their child care arrangements and home life. As a practical matter, if someone in my company asked a candidate a question like that, premised on the candidate's ability to perform a job based on pregnancy status, I would fire the interviewer --- both because they were playing games with the most important function of the firm, and because they'd have exposed us to legal risk.

danielweber 13y ago
I once thought that everyone knew not to ask things like this, but people don't. Story: at a friend's place of employment, they were having an interview for a secretary, as the previous two secretaries had both left after their maternity leaves. During a group interview, one guy asks a candidate "hey, you're not planning on getting pregnant, are you?" Did I mention this was at a law firm, and that the guy asking this was a lawyer? Yeah. The poo instantly hit the fan from about a billion different directions. Everyone in the room, not just the guy who asked the question, got a very very long talk with HR. It entered company lore as "really stupid and expensive mistake this one guy did." Whenever I'm on the questioning side, I always go over this with my coworkers.
dingaling 13y ago
As a man I have been asked whether my performance at work has been affected by raising children. When I made a mistake I was asked 'Are your children affecting your sleep? Perhaps you should take some time off as you seem to be losing focus.' Other feedback that came in was 'He seems disinterested in the tasks assigned' with the implication that my children were more interesting than my work ( which of course they are ). Would you also fire anyone who asked those questions of a man?
- tptacek 13y ago
  It's presumably just as unlawful, and obviously the same kind of bullshit. Yes.
mdorazio 13y ago
How is this an unlawful question? As far as I know, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act only applies to employees and those seeking employment. In the setting of an individual seeking funding for their business, the law doesn't apply. Furthermore, from an objective point of view how can you argue that pregnancy doesn't affect an individual's expected ability to perform as an entrepreneur after the birth? In my opinion this is a valid question to ask both expecting parents. One of my male coworkers recently had a child and his work performance in the month since then has been noticeably worse than it was prior to the birth. Babies take a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of lost sleep no matter help much help you have. We're not talking about hiring someone - we're talking about investing in the business they are running. Any major pending commitments, pregnancy included, seem fair to ask about.
- tptacek 13y ago
  I just said: it's unlawful in an employment context. It's an interesting question as to what, if any, discrimination laws actually apply in practice with investors.
  - mdorazio 13y ago
    Ah, I misread your response since the parent comment seemed to be in reference specifically to the article.
PeterisP 13y ago
It's an illegal question because we as the society have chosen to value family interests above the employer interests and made specific laws to prohibit it. It is a legitimate question because from a purely practical employer's point of view it IS important. As opposed to irrelevant questions such as ethnicity/religion/sexual orientation which don't affect performance, having a baby does require taking some time off, and does have an impact on performance, sleep, ability to work 100hour weeks, etc - a number of medical conditions fall into this category as well; you can't require a candidate to disclose that they have cancer and have planned chemotherapy, but if you could, then it would make sense to do so. Knowing the answer is an advantage to the employer and disadvantage to some employees; therefore, if it wasn't legally prohibited, 100% of HR handbooks would actually mandate to always ask such questions - as far as I know, before those laws were implemented, it was the recommended practice to do so. And since the particular scenario of the original post isn't an employment scenario and it's not prohibited - it's likely in the investor's best interests to ask that question; the only downside is a possible PR impact.