Do not leave yourself open to a discrimination claim - What NOT to ask during the interview process:

• Are you married?
• Do you have kids?
• What Church do you attend?
• Are you pregnant?
• Do you have a disability?
• Are you taking any medications?
• Have you filed any workers’ compensation claims?
• Have any of your close relatives had a heart attack or been diagnosed with a heart condition?
• Do you have any mental health conditions that run in your family?

Questions you can ask in retrospect:

• Do you have anything that may prevent you from doing the job duties as been discussed with you?
• As our job duties require us to lift 50lbs, stand on your feet for 6-8 hours, operate machinery daily, is there anything that may prevent you from completing the tasks required of you?

These allow you to ask the questions of religious beliefs, having children and daycare concerns, disabilities, etc. without a breach of privacy. If one answers that they have a concern due to the job expectations, you must decide if the job expectations can be accommodated and to what extent. If you can state that the job duties and expectations are required (for example, to work Sundays as this is a weekend job working from 7am to 7pm, then you can disregard this candidate however if you can split the shift allowing the individual to attend Church, then come in, without disrupting the business, you should look to accommodate.)

The candidate does not need to inform you of a previous workers’ compensation claim, any family medical or mental health history. You the interview must make a decision based on the skills, competencies, knowledge, education, and abilities it takes to do the job and decide who is the best fit for the job, leaving all bias or discrimination out of the interview and decision factors.