Our professional guide to discrimination at interview
Are you applying for jobs? Attending interviews? You might be interested to know what questions are OK for an interviewer to ask you, and which would count as discriminatory.
What matters in a job interview is your skills and experience. Whether you fit in with the company culture. Your suitability for the role. Nothing more.
One of the issues (that affects all humans) is unconscious bias. We tend to favour people who are are similar to us in appearance, background or education. To overcome that effect, you might find yourself being interviewed by a panel, not just one person, and you might the company uses a points-based scoring system to decide who to employ.
Direct discrimination
It’s illegal to write off a candidate due to your gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any of the characteristics that are protected under the Equality Act 2010.
It means that recruiters, HR professionals and employers have to be careful what they say. For example, they can’t ask about your religion, sexual orientation, marital status, or whether you have (or are planning to have) children.
Unfortunately, many still do, as shown in the examples below.
Indirect discrimination
It’s illegal when a rule applies to everyone but disproportionately disadvantages you, such as a uniform policy that doesn’t cater to your religious group, or a workplace environment which you can’t access due to a disability.
If direct or indirect discrimination happens to you, let us know. As employment lawyers who only ever act for employees, we’ll advise what you can do about it. The first conversation is free with no obligation to proceed.
Everyday sexism
You might be aware of the #everydaysexism hashtag on Twitter, where people have been sharing stories of their experiences.
It seems interviewers have asked applicants about marital plans, childcare arrangements, and even choice of underwear! That last question was apparently a test to see how the candidate would respond to a rude customer.
Women are quoted as having been asked:
- Do you have a boyfriend?
- Are you planning to live with your boyfriend?
- Are you planning to get married?
- Are you on the Pill?
- Do you plan on getting pregnant in the next few months?
- Are you planning to start a family soon?
- What are your plans for childcare?
- Who will take care of your child when we need you to work late?
- What will you do when your daughter gets a sore throat?
- What does your husband do for a living?
- What does your husband think of you taking this job?
- Is your boyfriend OK with you relocating?
- As a mother, do you really want this job?
- How would you cope with men being promoted ahead of you because women are not capable of working hard and are too easily distracted?
- Do you know any dirty jokes?
These are not questions that men typically get asked in the workplace. When they leave work to deal with a caring situation, they face a different kind of discriminatory question such as: “Can’t your wife sort that out?”
Employed women reported discriminatory comments such as:
- Don’t use the canteen because the men would feel less able to talk freely with a woman around
- It’s important you don’t go on the trading floor because, as a girl, you would distract the men
- Why are you sceptical about working overseas? Are you afraid your boyfriend would cheat on you?
What this means to you
For clarity, these questions are not OK, and you don’t have to answer them.
Related reading
- When CAN’T you claim sex discrimination
- Our expert factsheet on equal pay in Belfast
- I was refused a job because I’m a white man. Can I lodge a claim?
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