Ask
A way
You’re
Pushing It
You’re
GonnaPay
ForThat!
chasing Hustler magazine for the partner I was
to be assigned to. To be honest, I was desper-
ate for a job and the location in Manhattan
was my first choice because I would not
have to take the subway. My reply:
‘Only if I don’t have to pay for it.’ ”
Smiley: “The question
of purchasing Hustler,
a well-known magazine,
can be construed as ask-
ing someone if they will
put up with sexual ha-
rassment and is a totally
inappropriate question.
We have seen ... cases
where a plaintiff has
been successful in as-
serting a sexual harass-
ment claim where a boss
was ordering sexually
explicit items and sending
them to his workplace know-
ing that his female assistant
opened his mail.”
Jabber-Jaw, Job Edition
WITH THE ECONOMY IN FLUX, LOTS OF LAWYERS ARE ON THE STREET LOOK-
ing for new jobs. That made us wonder: What’s the most outrageous question you’ve ever been asked in a job interview? We posed the question to
our readers on ABAJournal.com and asked employment lawyer Elaina Smiley
of Pittsburgh’s Meyer, Unkovic & Scott just how outrageous those questions really were. Judging by the responses, we think employment law is
recession-proof. —Arin Greenwood
DO YOU HAVE A LIFE?
“While interviewing for a position in the Philadelphia office of a BigLaw firm based in New
York, the managing partner of the office said, ‘I know I’m not supposed to ask this, but I’m
going to anyway: Do you have any obligations that would interfere with the amount of time
you can devote to your work here? Husband, kids, anything like that?’ ”
Smiley: “Are they asking the male employees this? Probably not. Sex is a
protected class. It’s a Title VII claim. You can ask someone if they can perform the job duties—‘Here are the hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Can you be
here?’ You can’t, though, ask why someone can’t perform the job duties—
why they can’t be at the office for 15 hours a day.”
HOW’S YOUR HEALTH?
“During an interview with the general counsel
and CFO of a company, the CFO asked me if
I had any serious illness such as cancer. He
then explained that they had hired someone
who had cancer, and that person’s medical
bills caused their health insurance premiums
to increase.”
Smiley: The Americans with Disa-bilities Act prohibits medical inquiries. “You can’t ask people about
their medical conditions. You can
ask people if they can do the job
with or without reasonable accommodations. You can ask someone if
they can do what the job requires.
But you can’t ask why they can’t.”
AND YOUR RELIGION IS ...
“During my interview for an in-house employment counsel position in Kansas, I was asked
whether I had accepted Jesus Christ into my heart.”
Smiley: “Nice. Wow. Oh my. You can’t be asking people about their religious
beliefs. That could lead to religious discrimination claims [or] national origin
discrimination claims.”
HOW MUCH WILL YOU PUT UP WITH?
“In an interview for a legal assistant position in the late ‘80s, I was asked if I objected to pur-
WHICH TEAM DO YOU ROOT FOR?
“During an interview at a prestigious New
York City law firm several years ago, a
partner detected my Boston accent and
asked if I was a Red Sox fan. I replied that
I am. He then proceeded to ask me when
was the last time the Red Sox had won the
World Series, which every Bostonian at the
time knew was 1918. He then asked me how
many times the Yankees had won the World
Series since then and proceeded to tell me
before I could answer.”
Smiley: “I don’t see any problems
with that.”
