Questions on Job Applications about Race and Gender
In today's diverse workforce there are many new laws in place
that most, if not all, of us know very little about. For years,
we all were led to believe that it was illegal to ask questions
about race and gender and now the government is requiring
companies to track the diversity of the applicant pool through
anonymous questions at the end of an application. This seems a
bit of an about face for a government that usually is as hard to
move as a million year old dinosaur.
Where does the info go?
The government has very strict guidelines for how this
information is handled and the law states that the information
is to be used solely for the purposes of analyzing the diversity
of the applicant pool for specific companies, for regions, for
industries and any other analytical need to ensure that EEO and
AAP targets are being met.
So, whether you are filling out a form by hand or entering your
information online, you can be 99% sure that the company who is
receiving it will make every effort to keep your EEO answers
separate from your actual application. If not, the government
will penalize them heavily and any individual who was not hired
could get as much as one year's salary in a lawsuit for
discrimination if the hiring decision was based on the
information provided.
How is the information used?
In an effort to ensure that positions being offered by larger
companies to the general public are being offered to and pursued
by a diverse group of individuals, the government has put in
place reporting requirements that mandate that these companies
track this information through voluntary questionnaires.
Of course there are some margins for error built into a
voluntary questionnaire. There are also margins for hedging or
abuse in that if a company does not get enough female applicants
or Asian applicants for a specific position, that company will
decide on who they are going to hire without making an offer and
keep the job requisition open until the correct num