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Questions Job Interviewers shouldn't ask
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| justfoundout |
Posted on September 09 2010 01:23 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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9/9/10
This Yahoo! article came up on its front news page this morning, and it ties in with current events saying the following:
" The rough economy has made many people desperate for a job. In their eagerness for gainful employment, many people may overlook improper interview questions."
I'm pasting here the only part of the article that had to do with disabilities. It was number 4 on the list of illegal questions. This is according to the 'laws in the US'. - jus'
http://finance.ya...to-ask-you
8 Things Employers Aren't Allowed to Ask You
"4. Do you have any disabilities?
This question might seem necessary to determine if a job applicant can perform the required duties, but it is illegal to ask under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Employers cannot discount anyone from a job because of a physical or mental disability. In fact, the law requires that they accommodate disabilities unless they can prove it would cause significant difficulty or expense to do so. Employers also cannot ask you if you have had any past illnesses or operations." |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on September 09 2010 05:20 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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My current employer became very angry with me when I brought my doctor's note to him the first week of work which allows me to be seated at the register, due to back problems. He said, "I asked if you had any disabilities before I hired you and you said no!" I said, "No, you asked if I could do my job as required of me, on my own or with appropriate accommodation, and I said yes. I can do my job with appropriate accommodations, and I do not legally have to disclose any disability during the interview process." He shut up real quick because he knew I was right.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on September 10 2010 12:14 AM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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9/9/10
Kat, that's quite a story! Something that causes me stress is when someone (as in your story) tells me that I've said 'such-and-such' when I haven't. You remembered exactly what you'd been asked, what you'd answered, and you were able to state this in a confident manner when challenged. Good for you! My memory 'caves' at times like that, and under stress, it's as though my IQ drops. By the next day, I know exactly what I should have said,... for all the good it does me. :( You've given a perfect example of the reason for the need for the Americans with Disabilities Act. And honestly, almost every cashier needs to get to sit down part of the day. Whoever 'thought that up' about cashiers not being allowed to sit down had a 'mean streak'. - jus' |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on September 10 2010 12:28 AM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Jus, that is the worst feeling, when you get home later after some kind of altercation and think, "Dang, I should have said that!" I was fortunate enough to know my rights so I knew that I had no reason to be ashamed or guilty, as if I had intentionally hidden something from him. I answered honestly - I CAN do my job with the appropriate accommodations. But I cannot stand up for more than about 15-20 minutes at a time without suffering from significant pain/pressure in my lower back, hence the accommodation to sit during most of the day.
I think being on your feet for 5-6 hours at a time is hard for anyone, but during that first week of work before I got my doctor's note I would literally be in tears by the end of the shift because my back pain was so intense. I have a congenital spinal defect, part of my spine is fused to the inside of my hip which causes a lot of muscle tension and decreases my lower spine's ability to bear pressure like it's supposed to. The result is increased pressure on the spine and abnormal tension on the muscles, which equals PAIN! There's nothing I can do about it either except for do core strengthening exercises and stretches (I was in physical therapy for a while, they taught me the exercises and stretches) to try and decrease the amount of pressure put on the spine. Other than that, I need to sit as much as possible at work. It's not as if I was asking to be given a free wheelchair or anything, but you would have thought I was given my boss's reaction.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on September 10 2010 03:01 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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9/10/10
Your need for a chair then was completely 'documented' and 'documentable'. I'd had trouble retreiving my purse when I was a cashier, due to no one being in the main cashier stand to hand it to me, putting my lower 'back out'. I was in pain for months from what I'd done to my back. But jobs were so scarce that I dared not complain about standing up at the time. Also, I had no insurance for a doctor's note. Besides, pain is invisible and more difficult to 'document' than what you've got. Anyway, I think that having to stand all day while cashiering is 'cruel and unusual punishment', and I think that I should have been given an interpreter! Oh, wait. Everyone spoke English.  - jus' |
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| Kestrel6 |
Posted on September 10 2010 05:35 PM
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Member
Location: Houston TX
Posts: 448
Joined: 2009-08-26
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[b] I do not legally have to disclose any disability during the interview process." He shut up real quick because he knew I was right.
Never hurts to have a copy of the ADA handy, with appropriate phrases highlighted.
Blessed are the PURR in heart! |
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| eoffg |
Posted on September 11 2010 11:04 AM
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Administrator
Location: Australia
Posts: 1262
Joined: 2005-03-20
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What this highlights, is the need to get rid of this term; Disability?
Where what is really relevant to an employer, is:
Do you need any accommodations, and what are they?
So that they can consider how and if the accommodations could be put in place?
While the laws have changed, to try and prevent employers discriminating.
What is far more important, is to make it as easy as possible for employers to employ people with a disability.
Where all that is really important to an employer is"
Do you need any accommodations?
Can I put them in place?
If I put them in place, will you be able to do the job efficiently?
So that we move away from the idea of a 'Disability'?
To one of, people doing the same job in a different ways! |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on September 11 2010 03:03 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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I feel like I should also mention that my boss is a misogynist who discriminates against women in the workplace in general. I am one of the only female workers at the entire store, the other 95% are male. Another girl was hired in the same hiring batch as me, and she quit 3 weeks later.
Even my male coworkers admit that our boss treats me differently because I am a woman (and a petite one at that) and he thinks less of me because of it. He is unbelievably critical of me and yells at me about things that my male coworkers do all the time and he never even turns an eyelash when they do it. I try my best to do my job to the best of my ability, to do everything asked of me, to complete my job in a timely and efficient manner, but nothing and I repeat NOTHING I do is good enough for this man. The other day one of my male work friends who sympathizes with me was joking with me and we were saying, "The shelf looks fine, but you know [our boss] will find something wrong with it because [my initials] is written next to it on the floor plan."
So I really have to defend myself with every legal tool I have (such as the ADA) because my boss will look for any reason he can get to say that I am unreliable or dishonest so that he can have one less set of ovaries to deal with. I am neither unreliable nor dishonest, I just happen to be female, and because of that I am already in the line of fire. Were it not for the protections afforded to me by the disabilities act, I have no doubt he would have used that as grounds to fire me. In fact, I think the only reason he hired me in the first place was because his district manager (a woman) commented on the gender inequality among employees.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on September 11 2010 08:06 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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9/11/10
Kat, I'm laughing as I get to the end of your paragraph. A brief vision flashed across my mind of your store receiving a 'visit' by the woman manager, and then your boss having all the employees there to greet her. Finally, he would say to her, "And now, here is the 'female' member of our team",... and, though no one else would be dressed this way, you would walk through a doorway, dressed in full camouflage, boots, and helmet. Sorry. This is what I 'saw' and it made me laugh. - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on September 11 2010 08:08 PM |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on September 11 2010 11:04 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Jus - LOL, I pretty much need fatigues and a helmet just to make it out of that place alive! Although I did get my (late) 90 day employee review today... and was surprised to see that I was marked as "meets standards" for everything except customer service, which I got "exceeds standards" for. (The three possible marks are meets standards, exceeds standards, or below standards.) Seriously?? If you heard the way this man talks to me, you would never in a million years guess that he thought I was meeting (much less exceeding) anyone's expectations. I was stunned, in a good way!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| RottieWoman |
Posted on September 13 2010 02:55 AM
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Member
Location: No value
Posts: 3044
Joined: 2008-12-31
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this topic reminds me of when I had a job that was supposed to be front cashier/desk person/animal assistant at a local vet clinic. I ended up just doing animal handling,cleaning and organizing instead but with all that was otherwise going on logistically and financially with that clinic I was "let go". But in applying for the job I did have to take a math test so I ended up disclosing why I performed the way I did on the test. Usually I do not disclose the LD til after I'm hired.
'kat, am sorry you're having such difficulties with your current employer - when that kind of thing was happening to me in a different job than one described above, that was pretty hard for me.
Good luck to you <hugs> |
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| Kestrel6 |
Posted on September 14 2010 02:29 PM
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Member
Location: Houston TX
Posts: 448
Joined: 2009-08-26
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eoffg wrote:
What this highlights, is the need to get rid of this term; Disability?
No. Removing a word from a lexicon does not erase the thing it names or describe. Heck, most of the disabled people I know are the ones who get the maddest at the PC doublespeak because it just makes it harder to get things they need. A person who cannot see, or hear, or walk, orwhatever, in a society where the vast majority can do these things, is DIS. ABLED. Period. There's no shame in it; it's just fact, like having blue eyes. I say, less semantic pussyfooting and more action towards circumventing disabilities.
Blessed are the PURR in heart! |
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| RottieWoman |
Posted on September 14 2010 02:42 PM
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Member
Location: No value
Posts: 3044
Joined: 2008-12-31
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Hi Kestrel,
just my thoughts - I'll be one of the first people to say I happen to have a disability. But that is not me - it's not something I "am". I am not "disabled".
And based on my experiences/friendships with many people who happen to have some hearing loss - one- may not consider it a loss - and, two - consider it neither as an "impairment" <no, you didn't put that, but it's a common term> or as a disability or that they are "disabled". Deaf <with capital D> is considered a cultural/linguistic minority, not a disability.
as for me, I personally do not like "pussyfooting" around with "disability" vs. something like "difference" - learning "difference" - I agree for me personally, I keep "disability" as something that is part of me because everyone learns "differently". So I agree from that perspective-
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| Julienne |
Posted on September 30 2010 06:39 AM
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Member
Location: New York
Posts: 4
Joined: 2010-09-30
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Okay, so would you guys sit down and discuss with your boss your LD? I have been advised to hide it at all costs, but I recently got written up for something that I know is a direct result of my LD. I am seriously debating whether or not to tell my boss about my problems..... |
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| RottieWoman |
Posted on September 30 2010 06:00 PM
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Member
Location: No value
Posts: 3044
Joined: 2008-12-31
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yes, Julienne, I have and I would again...you know what, I think I may have "met" you before in the intro and described it <sorry, busy week, aunt in from out of town, have three dogs, tired>. I'll look back and see. If not, then I 'll come back and continue on here- |
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| RottieWoman |
Posted on September 30 2010 06:02 PM
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Member
Location: No value
Posts: 3044
Joined: 2008-12-31
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ok, yes, I did reply to you, directly below your intro.
if you're interested, go check that out, see if there's anything helpful
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