How to Avoid Being Sued When Interviewing Prospective Employees

Here are some tips for interviewing prospective employees in a way that both complies with anti-discrimination laws and shows sensitivity to the interviewees' backgrounds.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Train for the Interview

1. Make sure the interviewer knows federal and state employment laws before doing any interviewing.
2. Review Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, for employers with 15 or more employees.
3. Review the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which prohibits discrimination against persons age 40 and older, for employers with 20 or more employees.
4. Review Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from discriminating against prospective employees who are disabled.
5. Review the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits wage discrimination based on gender.

Develop Interview Techniques

6. Learn how to communicate interview questions in a way that is not discriminatory. For example, saying, "I see that you are over 70. Will you be able to handle this job? It can be pretty stressful even for us young folks!" might sound friendly, but could be heard as discriminatory. Instead, describe the job and ask if there is anything about it that the person thinks he or she would find difficult or impossible to do.
7. Avoid assuming that someone can't do a job because the person is a member of a protected class. Be careful about declining to interview someone unless it is clear from the person's communications that he or she would be unable to do the job.
8. Sign up for an interview skills training workshop.

Tips & Warnings

• Laws and judicial interpretations change continually, so if you do a lot of hiring you may want to subscribe to a service that provides you with regular updates.
• You may not be discriminating in your heart, but if an employee or prospective employee believes your behavior is discriminatory, that person may still have grounds to take action against you.
• Ask a person of another color or ethnicity, or someone who is disabled, over age 40, or in another protected class, what questions he or she might find insulting. You may be surprised.
• Talk less and listen more.
• Be friendly, but maintain a professional distance while interviewing.
• Complete a full interview with every candidate. If you interview someone in a protected class for only a few minutes, that person may assume you have turned him or her down for a reason unrelated to his or her ability to do the job.