Religion and the job interview

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So today I go to interview for the position of Summer Intern at a local law firm. The two people performing the interview were folks I knew from school (same year as me, even), so it was rather cool and relaxed. I thought the interview went really well.

But while I was driving away, something started to nag at me, something I really should have seen at the time: I think that, without asking the illegal question, “What religion are you?”, they fished for information about my religious beliefs.

I suppose the location should have been my first clue; the law office shares floorspace with the local Baptist university. Anyway, it really comes down to two questions: the first came after some questions about my hobbies, presumedly (in hindsight) to throw me off the track. The question was about what I did in my free time and was, “What do you do on a typical Sunday morning?” (I mean, why not “weekday evening” or “weekend”, instead of specifically “Sunday morning”?) The other question concerned their primary client, who was, as they described him, “a typical white male Baptist” who would sometimes pray and even lead prayers at the office. They asked if that would bother me.

I answered honestly, which meant that I didn’t portray myself as Johnny Churchgoer, but neither did I throw devil-signs at them; I pretty much answered that the beliefs of other people don’t offend me and I try to respect the belief systems of others, whatever they may be.

I really don’t think it’s all in my mind, but does this sound fishy to y’all? If I don’t get the job, should I complain to the EEOC or something?

2

If they didn’t break the letter of the law, they certainly did break the spirit of the law. If you don’t get the job, it sounds as though you could possibly have grounds for an EEOC charge. IANAL, but I just took a training course for supervisors/hiring managers that says they aren’t allowed to ask you anything that isn’t directly related to the specific functions of the job. If you are not expected to work Sunday mornings, it is not relevant, and therefore suspect. Maybe we have a lawyer among us who knows EEOC better? I’ll look up the specifics tonight when I get home to where my materials are.

3

I’d give them the benefit of the doubt, here. While they may have broken the spirit of the law a little bit, clearly religion plays a role in the job. If Baptists and a client who launches into prayer at innapropriate times are integral to this job, they need an employee who won’t fly off the handle and jeopardize their income. It makes sense to me. By asking if it would bother you, they asked you what I think is a fair question, to which you gave a fair answer. The only time (AFAIK, though Cervaise could give you a kick-ass answer) you would be able to sue for them asking such a question is if you were denied employment based on your answer.

As for the “Sunday morning” question, yeah, it could have been a sly way to find out if you are a churchgoer, but it also could have been what popped into the interviewer’s mind as the ultimate lazy day. I disagree with TroubleAgain about this point:

Employers look for well-rounded employees. They were, to my mind, asking what you do to relax, and how you spend your free time. Though I doubt such a question could make or break an interview, it’s a way for them to found out what else you’re interested in, find some common ground, maybe tailor the interview to discover who you are as a person. It’s not evil, it’s the equivalent of chit-chat, just in a more formal setting.

4

It definitely sounds fishy to me, Max. However, it may be that they were just trying to get a feel about how you would react to some of their clients. Is it mandatory to participate in these client-led prayers?

My last company actually had mandatory training classes for everyone who interviewed prospective employees, and they were very specific on the type of questions that could and could not be asked. Basically, anything that didn’t directly have to do with the person’s ability to do the job was verboten. Basically they wanted to make sure that our hiring practices wouldn’t open them up for a lawsuit. It sounds like a number of the questions that you were asked really had nothing to do with your ability to perform the job.

5

Beadalin, EEOC rules say that you cannot ask any question that is not directly related to their job performance. The question they asked about being uncomfortable with customers/prayer thing is relevant, but only if asked in the proper way. (Would you be uncomfortable dealing with prayer in the office? vs. Are you a Christian?) A person’s hobbies and how they choose to spend their Sunday mornings is not relevant if it does not affect their ability to perform their job. And if they wanted to know about his hobbies, they should have just asked straight out, not making a specific example of Sunday mornings. Asking a person if they can work Friday nights/Saturdays is legal, whereas asking someone if they are Jewish and might have problems working the Sabbath is not. The way they asked this particular question does open them up to a possible EEOC charge if he is denied a position based on it. Something like “they didn’t hire me because I told them I usually spend Sunday morning fishing and therefor don’t fit into their “Christian” environment” would be a possible charge. porcupine’s training on EEOC agrees with mine on these points. It is better to be very, very careful with the questions you ask than to rely on the questions being received in the spirit in which they were meant.

6

Max, I’m about midway between Beadalin (thanks for the vote of confidence, by the way) and TroubleAgain. It sounds a little fishy, but based solely on this description, it’s hard to draw any firm conclusions.

It’s correct that the interview questions should be limited to job performance, work history, skills, and so on. It’s within the realm of possibility that hobbies can come into it as well, though; I once got a job because of all the equally qualified candidates, I was the biggest movie fan, and therefore connected personally with the company president. That’s kind of a gray area, but generally it’s okay. However, religion, age, etc., those are all definitely out of bounds.

In my experience in HR, if we had a manager or interviewer who was asking those types of questions, we would unhesitatingly ask them to stop. Not necessarily because they’re clearly illegal, but because we don’t want anyone even to get the vaguest hint of a nebulous notion that we might have something potentially nefarious even flickering in the back of someone’s mind; we want to stay far, far in the clear. The questions as you’ve described them tiptoe up to the line, and whether they step over is entirely a matter of interpretation.

The easy answer is to suggest you wait and see whether or not you get the job. If you do, then you could call it moot and let it be. If you don’t, then you might want to investigate further.

However, even that makes my skin prickle a bit. A rigorously honorable person wouldn’t be able to leave a questionable situation alone, even if it happened to benefit them. How uncomfortable does it make you to think that this law firm might be qualifying people on religious grounds? If they offer you the job, can you honestly do it without wondering what was going on?

So here’s another question: You say you know your interviewers, and you went to school with them. Is there any possibility you could just ask them? Say, call them up and ask, unofficially, “What was that all about?” You could say you’re working on honing your interviewing skills, and you keep a journal or make notes or whatever afterward so you can evaluate your performance and continue to improve. “I’ve never been asked anything like that,” you could say. “Can you tell me what kind of information that was intended to extract?”

Obviously, the best solution would have been to say, “Why do you ask?” right there in the interview, but of course it’s too late now. Second-best, in the circumstances and in my opinion, is to call one of the interviewers and ask what they were doing. (Important: Do it in a casual, non-threatening, non-leading way, without giving any indication that your subtext is, “Were you asking about my religion?”)

Third-best, again in my opinion, is to wait to see whether you got the job or not, and then decide what to do from there: Either you get the position, and you must explore your conscience, or you don’t, and you must consult an attorney.

Oh, and one last thing, Max: Write down what happened in the interview, right now, all the questions and answers, while it’s still fresh in your mind. These things fade quickly, so make notes immediately, while you still can. Include everything you remember, not just the questions that bothered you, so everything is in context. If it comes down to making an accusation, you have to be scrupulously fair from your side as well.

And please, keep us posted.