Inappropriate interview questions

[30andgrey]

I just turned down a job offer because I deemed these questions inappropriate….AIBU?

1. How many times have you been on maternity leave during your current employment?

2. What are the details of your childcare arrangements?

3. What does a normal day look like for you in terms of balancing raising a young family and a senior post?

The above questions were asked in a telephone conversation after a panel interview.

Anyone else think these are extremely discriminatory?

I turned down the offer that was 4 pay scales higher than my current role because it seemed like they were asking me to prioritise work if it came to it and I had to go over and above to assure them that being a parent would not hinder my ability to do the role.

Would love to know if I’m an idiot for turning down a whopping pay increase or if I am reasonable for thinking it would have been a nightmare to work for an organisation with this mindset.

You need to accept the job and tell maternity action what they said in the interview!

Bullet dodged.

I was once asked by my male boss to ask an interview candidate if she planned on having any more babies. It was years ago but I remember telling him we couldn’t do that and he just didn’t get why. Times, they have not changed.

@sillysmiles

Personally I think YABU to turn down a pay increase and not using the new role as a stepping stone to something else if when you were in the role they were discriminatory. With that pay increase I'm guessing there was a level or two up on the scale with a new title that could have helped you to another new role with another increase or maintain the same if this role wasn't working out.

But those question are ridiculous and I think illegal.

OP is right to refuse, bullet dodged and all.

But the above poster is much more strategic in using the role as a stepping stone and staging post to get to that better job elsewhere. Maybe the job itself once in is not so bad. Win-win.

They WU to ask you those questions.

YWU to turn it down - a job 4 pay grades above where you are now! Madness.

My daughters were born 1977 and 1978. Every time I applied for jobs I always said I have childcare then explained how it would work before these men (they always were) asked me. I got every job I went for. Now I'm in my 60s I'm horrified and ashamed that this seemed reasonable. I'm full of regret that I let this generation down by doing this.

@aConcernedPrude

How can OP prove that the same questions were/weren't asked of male candidates?

I'm guessing they didn't ask men if they took maternity leave.

www.interview-skills.co.uk/free-information/interview-guide/illegal-interview-questions

I'd definitely complain, and I think you're right that you dodged a bullet.

@Minceandonions

All discriminatory. I was just interviewed and the interviewer described it being a really demanding role that needed lots of flexibility and working weekends and late nights, then asked "What's your personal situation - are you married, do you have children". I had to answer "I don't have children, but I'm afraid my home life is very important to me and if you want someone to work every hour under the sun, I'm not the candidate for you".

Well done for that answer. You struck a small blow for everyone’s right not to have assumptions made about them because of whether they have kids or not. Love your honest, non-grovelly approach. A polite way of saying ‘I don’t want to work for arseholes, thanks!’.

Would they have asked a man

1. 1) How many times have you been on paternity leave during your current employment?

2. What are the details of your childcare arrangements?

3. What does a normal day look like for you in terms of balancing raising a young family and a senior post?

Perhaps not.... but, lets be honest here - in many homes (I know not all) childcare is often / mainly down to the woman. Companies have to be practical. They need to know that female applicants, balancing work and children, have measures in place for when family commitments and job commitments clash.

@wantanotherdog

Would they have asked a man

1. 1) How many times have you been on paternity leave during your current employment?

2. What are the details of your childcare arrangements?

3. What does a normal day look like for you in terms of balancing raising a young family and a senior post?

Perhaps not.... but, lets be honest here - in many homes (I know not all) childcare is often / mainly down to the woman. Companies have to be practical. They need to know that female applicants, balancing work and children, have measures in place for when family commitments and job commitments clash.

If they are only asking female applicants these questions then it is discrimination.

I am genuinely shocked at how many people seem to think these questions are anywhere close to being acceptable.

@SpinsForGin if they asked both men and women it, it would be indirect discrimination as more women than men are likely be the primary carers of small children.

Also it is dangerous to ask men this as employers could be opening themselves up to sex discrimination due to the man's sexual orientation.

Basically you don't ask people these questions.

You just make it clear your firm is not family friendly and flexible by describing your working practices, so you deter the people who put their home life first.

@Sharletonz

I don't think the details of childcare arrangements are anything to be wary of, my nhs employer asked me how old my daughter was and what childcare I had in place, didn't seem discriminatory to me. The maternity leave question and typical day question sound a bit off, but again I wouldn't let it put me off, as long as you were open and honest in the interview it's not something they can hold against you.

This is the very essence of discrimination and should not have been asked it is not an employers business how you sort childcare and is not a question any man will ever have been asked.

@30andgrey

I did exactly this, I declined and explained that such questions did not have anything to do with my competency to do the role and they could be deemed discriminatory.

I had a reply that said that this suggestion is “baseless and insulting”

I think I made the right choice.

Good grief. You certainly did make the right choice.

The discriminatory attitudes that some employers have against femal employees could be so easily countered by men/same sex spouses having the option for better parental leave when a new baby is added to the family.

If we had something like Finland, Germany, Iceland or Norway employers would have the same expectations of both parents to be away around and after the birth.

Not that this is likely of course, with the costs of brexit bleeding the UK dry and a government very disinterested in the wellbeing of citizens.

@aConcernedPrude

How can OP prove that the same questions were/weren't asked of male candidates?

How likely to you think it is that any men have been asked if they've taken MATERNITY leave / how many times they've done so?

@CocoaDelight

I don't get why people (usually women) get so het up about this. To me ML just feels so entitled. Don't get me wrong, I know childbirth is necessary for the continuation of our species, but from a business owner's perspective, a key employee taking 6 months leave is just unsustainable.

The business owner didn't make a decision to have a baby, yet they're the one to pay the price. How is this fair? Seriously speaking, how is it fair to place this kind of onerous burden and tax on a business owner, simply because they gave a woman a job? I'm all for equality, but it seems a huge price is placed on the business owner, who shouldn't have to shoulder the burden for all of society.

@CocoaDelight - 1960 just called, it's asked for its attitude back please.

The questions asked are against employment law and have been for over 40 years.

It's definitely discriminatory and they know it. I'd put on an email just to scare them a little.

Kind of " the reason why I decided against accepting the job was the questions about my childcare arrangements etc, that I've found highly discriminatory, etc"

[quote RedWingBoots]@SpinsForGin if they asked both men and women it, it would be indirect discrimination as more women than men are likely be the primary carers of small children.

Also it is dangerous to ask men this as employers could be opening themselves up to sex discrimination due to the man's sexual orientation.

Basically you don't ask people these questions.

You just make it clear your firm is not family friendly and flexible by describing your working practices, so you deter the people who put their home life first.[/quote]
Very good point about indirect discrimination.

There is another thread that is discussing whether someone should be promoted while on maternity leave. The amount of people who think it's acceptable to discriminate against women for having taken maternity leave is shocking. One poster openly admitted that they would not promote someone who had taken their full mat leave entitlement instead of taking shared parental leave because they didn't want someone who prioritised family life over work.

And we wonder why women are still disadvantaged in the labour market.

[quote youvegottenminuteslynn]@aConcernedPrude

How can OP prove that the same questions were/weren't asked of male candidates?

How likely to you think it is that any men have been asked if they've taken MATERNITY leave / how many times they've done so? [/quote]
Fuck me, I'm pretty sure you knew what I was getting at.

Wrist well and truly slapped.

I think the fact that men aren't asked these questions is to do with the imbalance that continues to exist in many relationships, with the woman being expected to take care of childcare etc. In my experience as an employer, my female members of staff seemed to have husbands who expected them to pick up every last minute emergency.

All of which is an enduring societal problem.

However, I would not have taken a job if they asked me these questions because it sounds like they have an attitude problem to to women in general, and shoddy HR practices. Despite my comments above, I would never dream of carrying forward those assumptions, or asking at interview. Why be part of the problem rather than the solution?

I think you are right to turn them down. You may have found yourself put in impossible situations and conflicts and ended up leaving anyway.

I think the only reasonable question is question 2.

Although, I'm not sure how they would have known you had children to require childcare arrangements unless you'd told them.

An employer has a right to know you have proper arrangements in place - just look at how many ridiculous threads there have been on MN about people asking if it's reasonable to work from home full-time whilst looking after a crying baby full-time. Some people just don't get it.

Even if male candidates were also asked about paternity leave (which I very much doubt), these questions were still highly discriminatory towards op and probably illegal under the Equalities Act.

Pregnancy and maternity are protected characteristics under the law, paternity is not.

I think the fact that men aren't asked these questions is to do with the imbalance that continues to exist in many relationships, with the woman being expected to take care of childcare etc. In my experience as an employer, my female members of staff seemed to have husbands who expected them to pick up every last minute emergency.

It still doesn't mean an employer has the right to ask these questions. And the fact they women do tend to pick up more of the childcare responsibilities is why it is sex discrimination.

And the fact they women do tend to pick up more of the childcare responsibilities is why it is sex discrimination

Yes, exactly. It's not a meaningful argument that it's OK to ask women childcare questions because women get more childcare dumped on them!