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Comment by thegrim33 | Hacker News Reader

> "there are certain kinds of questions that are not permissible on an employment questionnaire" .. "these questions are often included in the questionnaire".

I don't follow. It's not permissible but these companies just blatantly ignore the law and ask it anyways? Or it is permissible?

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Those companies ignore the law - knowing that a candidate could sue, but then they would remove the canditate from the pool for any unrelated reason. A union could sue on behalf of a candidate, but until the case is resolved, the questionnaire still stands. Allowing candidates to just fill in the expected answer, truthful or not, is an effective remedy - it renders the question useless as a signal for the employer.

In most of Europe there is no notion of punitive damages in a law suit. That means if you sue that company they will fix the questionnaire with no other consequences. 3 months later they can put it back, also without consequences. Suing them can be costly, so most people will not bother. There is zero reward for doing it, as a candidate you waste time and money with no net return. All negatives and no positives.

So with very little risk, they do it.

It's not allowed, but you'd have to sue if you uncover one such questionnaire, which is a hassle.

So instead, lying on your answer is not sue-able. Which makes including such questions ineffective.

Presumably they ignore the law.

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