Age Discrimination at Interview - Help

[ruralretreat]

Went for an interview today, the first question I was asked was my date of birth! Sadly I couldn't be mistaken for under 18. The position was for a marketing role. I have asked the company why they asked for my age, but they have refused to say, but have been very quick to say that they are an equal opportunities company and don't discriminate.

It would only be age discrimination if you weren't offered an interview based solely on your age. But even if that happened, you'd struggle to prove it.

Plus, they can guess your age from your CV anyway...

I can't imagine why you should have been asked that at interview.

Pretty sure it's an illegal question.

I work in HR.

The question itself is not illegal, or discriminatory. It's what they do with that information that's risky. It's fine for them to ask for information such as your name, address, DOB. But if they've collected that information before making a selection decision then they run the risk of a claim of discrimination if the candidate isn't then picked.

They can legally turn you down for many reasons - lack of relevant experience, poor answers to questions posed, even the colour of your shoes. But because they asked your DOB like they did the risk is you would claim it was based on your age and they would have to evidence that the decision was because your shoes were brown.

Dodgy ground for them but nothing illegal in the question itself. I'd be giving them a good talking to in my organisation though!

Thanks for your comments on this. I was surprised to have been asked, as my understanding is that under the Equalities Act 2010, it is illegal to ask age unless it is pertinent to the job, e.g being 18 to sell alcohol, in the same way you cannot ask if someone is planning to have children. Handbag, I agree certainly if I was recruiting I would not ask those questions, even if the information was not going to be used in a discriminatory way. Does seem very strange that it's the first question they ask. Will just have to put it down to interview experience.....