{"id":19,"date":"2013-07-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/11-illegal-common-questions-in-an-interview-for-a-job\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T18:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:28:50","slug":"11-illegal-common-questions-in-an-interview-for-a-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/11-illegal-common-questions-in-an-interview-for-a-job\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Illegal Common Questions In An Interview For A Job"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"headline\" id=\"yui_3_9_1_17_1373471809632_283\">11 Common Interview Questions That Are Actually Illegal<\/h2>\n<h2>Questions In An Interview For A Job<\/h2>\n<p>During job interviews, <span class=\"yshortcuts cs4-visible\" id=\"lw_1373302017294_7\">employers<\/span> will try to gather as much information about you as possible, mostly through perfectly legal questioning, but sometimes through simple yet very illegal questions.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s up to the interviewee to recognize these questions for what they are.<\/p>\n<p>Any questions that reveal your age, race, <span class=\"yshortcuts cs4-visible\" id=\"lw_1373302017294_4\">national origin<\/span>, gender, religion, <span class=\"yshortcuts cs4-visible\" id=\"lw_1373302017294_1\">marital status<\/span> and <span class=\"yshortcuts cs4-ndcor\" id=\"lw_1373302017294_12\">sexual orientation<\/span> are off-limits. <strong>Questions In An Interview For A Job<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cState and federal laws make discrimination based on certain protected categories, such as national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, disabilities, arrest and conviction record, military discharge status, race, gender, or pregnancy status, illegal.<\/p>\n<p>Any question that asks a candidate to reveal information about such topics without the question having a job related basis will violate the various state and federal discrimination laws,\u201d Lori Adelson, a labor and employment attorney and partner with law firm Arnstein &amp; Lehr, tells Business Insider.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, if the employer states questions so that they directly relate to specific occupational qualifications, then the questions may be legitimate. Clearly, the intent behind the question needs to be examined.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you are asked any inappropriate questions, Adelson advises not to lie, but, instead, politely decline to answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould they not give you a job because of that? Sure. But if they do, they would be doing exactly what they\u2019re not supposed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We compiled the following illegal interview questions that are often mistaken as appropriate from Adelson and Joan K. Ustin &amp; Associates, a consultant firm specializing in human resources and organization development. <em>Questions In An Interview For A Job<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2>Questions In An Interview For A Job That Are Actually Illegal To Be Asked<\/h2>\n<p><strong>I did not realise that there were Questions In An Interview For A Job that were actually illegal to ask.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span>1. Have you ever been arrested?<\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>An employer can\u2019t actually legally ask you about your arrest record, but they can ask if you\u2019ve ever been convicted of a crime.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on the state, a conviction record shouldn\u2019t automatically disqualify you for employment unless it substantially relates to your job. For example, if you\u2019ve been convicted of statutory rape and you\u2019re applying for a teaching position, you will probably not get the job.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>2. Are you married?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Although the interviewer may ask you this question to see how much time you\u2019d be able to commit to your job, it\u2019s illegal because it reveals your <span class=\"yshortcuts cs4-visible\" id=\"lw_1373302017294_2\">marital status<\/span> and can also reveal your <span class=\"yshortcuts cs4-ndcor\" id=\"lw_1373302017294_13\">sexual orientation<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>3. What religious holidays do you practice?<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>Employers may want to ask you this to see if your lifestyle interferes with work schedules, but this question reveals your religion and that\u2019s illegal.<\/p>\n<p>They can ask you if you\u2019re available to work on Sundays.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>4. Do you have children?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It is unlawful to deny someone employment if they have children or if they are planning on having children in the future.<\/p>\n<p>If the employer wants to find out how committed you will be to your job, they should ask questions about your work. For example, \u201cWhat hours can you work?\u201d or \u201cDo you have responsibilities other than work that will interfere with specific job requirements such as traveling?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>5. What country are you from?<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>If you have an accent, this may seem like an innocent question, but keep in mind that it\u2019s illegal because it involves your national origin.<\/p>\n<p>Employers can\u2019t legally inquire about your nationality, but they can ask if you\u2019re authorized to work in a certain country.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong> A Job interview is like a first date. You dress up, pretend to be someone else and spend the time wondering if youre going to get screwed.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><span>6. Is English your first language?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the employers lawful right to know if a language is your first language or not.<\/p>\n<p>In order to find out language proficiency, employers can ask you what other languages you read, speak, or write fluently. <span>Questions In An Interview For A Job<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>7. Do you have any outstanding debt?<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>Employers have to have permission before asking about your credit history. Similar to a criminal background history, they can\u2019t disqualify you from employment unless it directly affects your ability to perform the position you\u2019re interviewing for.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, they can\u2019t ask you how well you balance your personal finances or inquire about you owning property.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span>8. Do you socially drink?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employers cannot ask about your drinking habits because it violates the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if you\u2019re a recovering alcoholic, treatment of alcoholism is protected under this act and you don\u2019t have to disclose any disability information before landing an official job offer.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong id=\"yui_3_9_1_17_1373471809632_249\">9. When was the last time you used <span class=\"yshortcuts cs4-visible\" id=\"lw_1373302017294_3\">illegal drugs<\/span>?<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s illegal for employers to ask you about past drug addiction, but they can ask you if you\u2019re currently using illegal drugs.<\/p>\n<p>A person who is currently using drugs is not protected under ADA. Questions In An Interview For A Job THAT ARE ILLEGAL<\/p>\n<p>For example, an <span class=\"yshortcuts cs4-ndcor\" id=\"lw_1373302017294_8\">employer<\/span> may ask you: Do you currently use illegal drugs? What illegal drugs have you used in the last six months?<\/p>\n<p><strong><span>10. How long have you been working?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This question allows employers to guess your age which is unlawful. Similarly, they can\u2019t ask you what year you graduated from high school or college or even your birthday.<\/p>\n<p>However, they can ask you how long you\u2019ve been working in a certain industry.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>11. What type of discharge did you receive in the military?<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>This is not appropriate for the interviewer to ask you, but they can ask what type of education, training, or work experience you\u2019ve received while in the military. Questions In An Interview For A Job. Original Source<\/p>\n<h3>Questions In An Interview For A Job That Are Illegal<\/h3>\n<h2>Now you know 11 Illegal Common Questions In An Interview For A Job<\/h2>\n<p><span><strong>Fortunately, I will never be in the situation again in my life where i face Questions In An Interview For A Job. Last year i took the decision that i no longer wanted to have to answer to a boss or have someone dictate when i could have a holiday\u2026. or dictate how many hours i would have to be away from my loved ones\u2026 or even when i worked or when i wanted a day off at all. All i do is spend time connecting with friends on Facebook and blog daily about whatever i feel (like the story above)\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><em><span>If You Enjoyed This Content \u2013 Please Like &amp; Share<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4><span>Join Me In Empower Network &amp; Change Your Life Today<strong><span><span><span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span><strong>P.S Click The Banner Below And Learn How To Keep Your Valuable Photos &amp; Files Safe On Your PC.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>11 Illegal Common Questions In An Interview For A Job<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>11 Common Interview Questions That Are Actually Illegal Questions In An Interview For A Job During job interviews, employers will try to gather as much information about you as possible, mostly through perfectly legal questioning, but sometimes through simple yet very illegal questions. It\u2019s up to the interviewee to recognize these questions for what they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":72,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9,66],"tags":[18,19,20,22,29,31,32,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-empower-network","category-living","category-news","tag-blog-network-marketing","tag-blogging","tag-blogging-tips","tag-empower-network","tag-home-based-business","tag-mlm","tag-mommy-blogging","tag-mommy-blogging-jobs","tag-mommy-blogging-make-money","tag-mommy-blogging-tips","tag-network-marketing","tag-niche-blogging","tag-niche-blogs","tag-questions-asked-in-an-interview-for-a-job","tag-questions-in-a-interview-of-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":431,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/wadds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}