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Some cities/states have laws against discrimination based upon appearance. Where did this happen?

This is about the strangest employment interview question I've heard lately.

Posted by: LAW Grrl at April 12, 2006 01:03 PM

Video conferencing. The wave of the future.

I had a boss once who always offered people a cigarette at the beginning of an interview. Surprisingly, some people took him up on the offer. Not surprisingly, those people were mysteriously never hired.

But that was before smoking became universally banned. I'm old.

Posted by: Dave! at April 12, 2006 01:49 PM

I just can't imagine that this is OK...at the very least, why would a person want to work at a place where they asked that?? It's creepy! I have been asked some strange/inappropriate things at interviews, but never that. In fact, I was once asked in an interview whether I thought I could work in a job that had homosexual employees since I had been in the military and was currently in the military law association, thus "endorsing military policy", as if I had/have anything to do with making military policy. It was EXTREMELY offensive, and when they offered me an internship the following year I turned it down because of that one interviewer.

Posted by: energy spatula at April 12, 2006 02:05 PM

Major red flag!!

That kind of question is definitely pushing the limits, even if the jurisdiction does not have protections against discrimination based on appearance. Dress codes are okay so long as they don't disproportionately burden one gender over another and so long as they aren't a proxy for something else. Here one could easily argue that this question is a proxy for a question re: race, color, religion, national origin or disability.

Also, it's a no-go for a company to base employment decisions based on consumer preferences (e.g., you can't use the excuse of "our customers aren't comfortable with XYZ people" as a reason not to hire someone).

So, we all know that none of this is legal advice, but it sounds like the asker of that question needs to brush up on his EE law.

Posted by: She says at April 12, 2006 03:33 PM

So, just to be clear, it would therefore be wrong to not hire an obese person to sell my fitness equipment based on their largesse?

To get to the post Ambiv made, that type of question turns me off when I look for an employer I would like to work for. I wouldn't want to associate myself with whoever asked that question.

Posted by: J. Morgan at April 12, 2006 04:09 PM

It wouldn't be illegal. Obesity isn't a protected characteristic under federal statutes. Just like an employer can discriminate based on sexual orientation. Not cool to do, but not patently illegal either (although this is changing in some jurisdictions based on various courts' interpretations of sexual discrimination laws).

And I totally agree that that kind of question is a major red flag about whether you want to work for someone who asks that...

Posted by: She says at April 12, 2006 04:16 PM

I'm a little rusty on employment discrimination law, but two things pop out at me. First, appearance is a protected category under a few state and local laws, including for example the D.C. Human Rights Act. Second, as another poster mentioned it might not be too hard to get past summary judgment on the argument that appearance is being used here as a proxy for race or disability, which are federally protected.

Posted by: jg at April 12, 2006 09:56 PM

What if they're asking about tattoos and/or piercings? That's not illegal to ask about.

But if they're so concerned about appearance, why are they doing interviews over the phone anyway?

Posted by: monica at April 13, 2006 06:55 PM