Ask HN: Are “Social Justice” questions in job interviews legal? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Are “Social Justice” questions in job interviews legal?

23 pointspault16 comments

My roommate is currently interviewing with a consulting firm, and in the third round of interviews he was explicitly asked which social justice movements he supports. He said it was really out of the blue (no pun intended) and caught him off guard. He said something vague about BLM, and in the followup meeting the company brought it up again, saying something to the effect of "we agreed on that, so that's good."

Is this even legal? I was really shocked when he told me about this. I personally would have been really uncomfortable talking about identity politics during a job interview, even though I'm about as liberal as they come. It certainly sounds as if he had expressed any reservations about the social justice movement he wouldn't have passed the interview.

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People here are saying it's a red flag. I'm not so sure.

I don't think it's smart for the company. Just like I didn't think it was smart for Thiel to ask "Star Wars or Star Trek?" as a shibboleth for political leanings at Paypal. You are going to filter good people.

However, I think it might serve you. Being a closet conservative in a liberal culture sucks. Being a closet liberal in a conservative culture sucks. At the end of the day, you want to not have your work-life suck.

I'm black. Spent a while living in Southeast Asia. Once, I was going to meet a landlord about renting an apartment and a white friend tagged along. Got there, the landlord was like "Oh. Sorry, no blacks." I was like "Okie doke." My friend was outraged on my behalf. I told him, "That's bad. You know what else is bad? Figuring out your landlord is a bigot only after you've signed a year lease because it was illegal to just say 'no blacks' up front. At least now I only had 10 seconds of shit instead of a year."

Sometimes it's nice when people put their cards on the table. It might not be a good thing for society or for business, but at least you know what you're dealing with.

Exactly. As an example, WASPs don't do that because they're too "nice," but will tell you about their prejudices if they trust you. They're fundamentally dishonest while wearing the lipstick of civility. (I'm mostly white, but I distrust and am embarrassed by many whites.)

The lemonade from the lemons is when people reveal themselves, it makes the self-selecting associations easier and saves you time, like you said.

More love, less hate. Namaste.

Think it from their side.

They don't give two shits about blacks, LGBTQ, Republicans, or Democrats.

But they have a nice business going.

If they hire someone with the wrong thoughts and voting patterns, they might say something wrong, and it might cause ire and focus into the company from angry people on social media.

Sure, they'll fire the person pronto, but why go through the hassle?

It's better to ensure that whatever a new hire says (while on the job, or on his own social media, or even at his spare time), willd not offend the side that has the political / cancel clout atm. If fascism came to power tomorrow, they'd switch to questions like "Do you fully and wholly support the opression of minorities?" to hire you.

So, it's just good business. And if they're also ideologues that hate concervatives? To them that's a win-win!

Oh, and the people in charge of "company culture" or some such shit non-job need to find something to do, don't they?

Plus, it gives the company "progressiveness" points to use on some presentations, news articles, etc ("Why, of course we have a employee sensitiveness education program").

As far as I know political affiliation is not a protected class so they're "allowed" to ask such questions. However asking such things seems really chilling and you shouldn't have to declare your ideological allegiances in a job interview.

And, in practical terms, not endorsing said social justice movements probably makes you immediately suspect to the hiring managers. After all, why wouldn't you endorse such just causes? What happens if you endorse them halfheartedly?

This makes me extremely nervous about polarization.

> As far as I know political affiliation is not a protected class so they’re “allowed” to ask such questions.

Political affiliation is a protected class in employment in California and some other states, but not federally.

Interesting. Is there a distinction made between actual political party affiliation/membership versus holding political views?

I ask because it may be permissible to deny someone employment based on them having republican views but not on the basis that they are a registered republican. I know virtually nothing about this law, so someone please correct me.

There's a really good summary at: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-employers-discri...

Political Discrimination Laws A few states explicitly prohibit employers from making job decisions based on an employee’s or applicant’s politics. In California, for example, employees are protected from discrimination based on their political affiliations and activities. New York and the District of Columbia have similar laws. And, in Oregon and Wisconsin, employees may not be penalized for refusing to attend meetings intended to allow their employer to communicate its political or religious opinions.

Lawful Conduct Laws A number of states have laws that prohibit employers from making job decisions based on an employee’s off-duty conduct and activities, as long as they are legal. In Colorado, for example, an employer may generally not fire an employee for engaging in any lawful activity while off duty and away from the workplace. If your state has this type of law, it will likely protect you from political discrimination.

However, given that candidates aren't employees yet, it's not clear if such laws apply to them.

By your comment "Do you vote Republican?", I'm assuming you are in the US. Then the answer is likely yes.

Federally, the US EEOC has a page listing the "Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices" (https://www.eeoc.gov/prohibited-employment-policiespractices). It makes no references to political orientation or social causes.

Also its not covered under the "Civil Rights Act of 1964" as well.

Certain states have protection against job discrimination for public employees based on political affiliation which would cover your "Do you vote Republican?". However as you said its a consulting firm, so not applicable.

NOTE: IANAL, my SIL does HR and that was her quick answer.

I removed that last sentence from the post as I didn't want anyone to misunderstand and think they actually asked if he votes Republican. My point was that asking the interviewee if he supports social justice movements is a very simple proxy for asking his political affiliation in the two party circus we have here in the US.

Well as you know, that's what is called a 'cultural fit' test and they choose those questions. Oh well.

Welcome to the start of the woke interview games.

> Is this even legal?

Legal or not, it's a huge red flag.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advise, but in most countries including the U.S. it is not illegal to ask for a persons political affiliation. It is not advisable to do this however as it can lead to discrimination lawsuits.

Except in states where political affiliation is a protected class (like California), there would be no basis for such a suit, as it is not federally illegal to discriminate based on political affiliation.

Completely agree. I just added that as a measure of best practice to avoid people going through that process in the first place.

I would say "It's best to keep politics and any potential activism private, even if we happen to agree, out of a respect for professionalism."

It's not a good question to ask in an interview, but political affiliation is a not a protected class (except maybe in California, it's confusing).

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