You have applied for this great job. Maybe you’ve been unemployed for a while or you’re stuck in a dead-end position. You’re excited and prepared for this interview, knowing there are others in the same boat as you, trying to make progress professionally and financially. Then things get weird. You’re getting interview questions that have nothing to do with the job or your qualifications. They are asking questions about your personal life and family plans. What do you do?

State and federal anti-discrimination laws make it illegal to make hiring decision for a number of reasons, including your plans to become pregnant, your status as “a family man” or “caretaker”. These questions could be used to unlawfully screen out job candidates on the basis of gender, marital status, or age.

When you go on an interview, those who do not know how to properly interview are dangerous to your financial health and well-being. It’s those who aren’t very knowledgeable who may try to chit-chat and break the ice with questions about your personal life, like whether you have kids or are married. Are they just clueless about the law or intentionally and illegally screening applicants? During the interview, it may be difficult to tell.

Out of bounds questions

Under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), an employer may not legally discriminate against job applicants due to the following protected characteristics: race, creed (religion), color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy (including possible future pregnancies) or breastfeeding, sex, gender identity or expression, mental or physical disability (including AIDS and HIV infection), atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States, nationality, or because of the refusal to submit to a genetic test or make available the results of a genetic test to an employer. Federal laws protect some but not all of the NJ categories. New Jersey actually is more protective of employee rights than the federal government.

Because of these legal limits, employers and employment agencies are barred from asking unlawful questions. For example, since in New Jersey it’s illegal not to hire someone because of their sexual orientation, whatever the candidate’s orientation might be should play no role in the hiring decision. Therefore, questions about it shouldn’t be asked. It’s irrelevant and seeking this knowledge could be seen as evidence of a desire to break the law.

This still leaves many legitimate questions a prospective employer might ask. They can cover your experience, the need to be on time, your availability, and your ability to do the job with or without reasonable accommodations to the essential functions of the job.

The job interview that went sideways and beyond the law

Jamie M. Dellinger went through a job interview last year. It became clear to her the interview went beyond a friendly, informal conversation about her personal life. In January, the Active Fitness Center in Sewell, New Jersey, sought someone to fill the job of front desk and customer service employee. Dellinger applied and was interviewed, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

Dellinger claims she was asked few questions about her work experience or qualifications. What she got were questions focused on her personal life, including whether she was married, single, or in a relationship, whether she had children or was expecting to have children soon, and whether she had any other commitments such as family or others who relied on her.

Active Fitness didn’t hire Dellinger, and she filed a complaint with the NJ Attorney General’s Division on Civil Rights. The company denied her allegations and claimed Dellinger wasn’t hired because of her demeanor during the interview. Dellinger contended her demeanor may have suffered because the inappropriate questions made her uncomfortable.

Though the Division’s investigation didn‘t find Active Fitness failed to hire Dellinger due to her gender or marital status, it did find a sufficient basis to support the allegation that it violated the LAD by asking about her marital status and child-rearing plans. The next step is an attempt to settle the matter but if that doesn’t work, the case will go to Superior Court or before an administrative law judge, in which the plaintiff will be the State of New Jersey vs Active Fitness.

Evidence supporting Dellinger’s side of the story was provided by another female job candidate for the same job. She reported that she was asked the same questions about her marital/relationship status and how she intended to both work and take care of her kids.

What should you do?

If you’re given questions that break the law, you have limited options. You could:

• Ignore the fact they’re illegal and answer them. Your actions would signal your approval to this approach, but you probably need the job. You may or may not be hired.
• Decline to answer them by saying it’s your understanding the question isn’t appropriate or legal and try to steer the conversation back to your qualifications. You might still get the job, but probably not.
• Ignore the questions and answer whatever you feel might satisfy these unenlightened managers. You probably won’t get the job.

If you’re hired, don’t be surprised if this is only the beginning of the illegal or improper acts by your future employer. Ignoring the law may be standard operating procedure for them. If you’re not hired, contact our office to see if legal action might be an option for you, just as it was for Jamie Dellinger.

Whatever approach you take to these questions, as soon as you leave the interview, write down notes of everything that happened, who you spoke to, what they said and how you responded. This will help you with possible future legal claims. In New Jersey, it is legal for you to record a personal conversation without the other person being aware of it, but whether you want to take that step, given the risks of being exposed for doing it (if so, you can forget about getting hired), is your choice to make.

Get help when you need it

If you have questions or concerns about possible discriminatory practices when it comes to hiring or promotion, contact the employment attorneys for workers at Kingston Law Group, 609-683-7400, or contact us online to set up a near-term reduced fee initial consultation at our Central Jersey location in Kingston.  We will listen to your facts, explain the law, and recommend your best pathways to monetary and social justice.  Call today. You will be glad you did.