Employer asking questions about child care

[alp]

Hello - I posted earlier but it got lost in cyber space!

I have received a job offer (hooray!!) but during the interview the employer asked
Lost of questions focussing around my childcare arrangements ie: will you be doing the school run? We won't accepted lateness. How will it work on a day to day basis etc. the hours are 9-5.30 so not unusual.

I answered in a straight forward manner with answers such as I will be returning to work and able to as my childcare is watertight and I have a support network around me and I'll only be late due to traffic not my children.

Now the job offer has come how should I address his concerns whilst informing him those questions were not appropriate to ask.

I don't want him to question my ability to do the job by the fact I'm a parent-which is what it felt like at interview (it's a young company with only a handful of employees with kids)

I have to go and see them again on Tuesday so have a bit of time to think but I don't want his opinions to grow if I was to accept the job.

Sorry of its a bit waffly!!

Is it even legal for him to ask this?

I second ItsAllGoing - DH is very clued up on HR, and when I went for my interview, he warned me that under NO circumstances are they allowed to ask ANYTHING about childcare arrangements. It's discriminatory, and they have to approach interviews from an equal standpoint for each candidate (kids or not) and assume that you wouldn't be applying for a job with particular hours if you weren't able to work those particular hours.

TBH if it were me I would be seriously considering taking the role, especially as it's small company - where's your HR recourse if childcare becomes an issue for some reason, and he makes your life difficult because of it?

It's not illegal to ask those questions, that's a common misconception, and it's not automatically discriminatory if they ask everyone, not just the women.

It's not very sensible to do so however, it may be discriminatory and may certainly be perceived as discriminatory by candidates and if they don't get offered the job may lead to a belief that the decision was discriminatory.

It's also perfectly possible to get the information you need without directly asking about how watertight childcare arrangements are.

OP you've been offered the job so the employer was obviously reassured by your answers and is confident that you will be able to meet the requirements of the job. Sounds like you've already addressed his concerns, do you need to do it again?

Well you have been offered the job so they must be happy with hour responses (however wrong it is to ask)

But be careful! I used to work for a small company, young staff, I was the only one with kids. They said they were flexible, indeed they let me start later, short lunch and finish early to accommodate nursery hours. BUT they weren't at all understanding when it came to emergencies. When my son was rushed to hospital after spiking temperature (nursery took him), they were a bit arsey with me the next day when I was back at work.

Thanks for replies! I was originally posting before I had been offered the job so was feeling a bit wobbly - then it got lost in cyber space and I got offered the job!

Glad to hear that it wasn't illegal, I did feel uncomfortable about it.

I do feel pleased that I obviously gave strong enough answers - I just don't want to feel I have to prove I can do it.

In interview he did start telling a story of someone who's not at target and been called out by school, almost rolling his eyes at the same time.

No, not illegal for employer to ask about childcare as our HR department do it all the time in interviews. However, recently overheard someone in HR talking to my boss about my maternity cover saying that out of two candidates they should seriously consider the one without a child over the one with because of people with kids not being flexible. Thankfully my boss said it didn't bother her whether someone had kids or not but still a little shocked at attitude of our HR department.

I know that this is a bit late, but I just came across this thread because I am in a similar position, but it was a recruitment agent asking. Like the OP, I felt uncomfortable by the question so started doing some research.

Flowery is right that it is not illegal to ask such questions, however there is an underlying discriminatory impact if these questions are only put to female candidates. Also, the Equal Opportunities Commission advises against such questions since they may be interpreted as direct sexual discrimination so, TimothyClaypoleLover, even though your HR department is asking, they probably shouldn't.

I ended up putting the following to the recruiter: "unless you are in the habit of quizzing all candidates about their childcare arrangements, such questions might be construed as discriminatory"