Your Excel skills might have been slightly exaggerated. And that gap year on your CV wasn't truthfully all "personal development and skill training." But we all polish our resume a little before an interview, right? Labour experts say there's a limit, sometimes even a legal one. — Photo: Christin Klose/dpa
What are your political views? Where are you originally from? Are you vaccinated?
Intrusive questions like these in a job interview should set off alarm bells in the job applicant's mind. And they're not at all uncommon. Do applicants have to answer them? What if they deliberately give a false answer? Two labour experts give answers:
Basically, only questions closely connected with the advertised job are permissible, at least ethically, but often also legally, since most countries with strong labour laws have clear rules aimed at ruling out discrimination during hiring.
"The answers should above all indicate whether the applicant has the necessary traits and skills required for the job," says Kaarina Hauer, head of legal policy and advice for the Bremen Chamber of Employees in Germany.
"Questions about these characteristics [i.e. such as the aforementioned ones] can allow prejudices and stereotypes to enter the decision-making process. And they often involve very personal aspects of the applicant's life," says Daniel Stach, a labour lawyer in the federal administration of the German trade union Verdi.
Questions such as, "Do you want children?" are therefore off limits, as they violate the right to privacy. So are questions about religious affiliation, political views, membership in a political party or trade union, ethnic background, marital status, family responsibilities, sexual orientation and health.
Sometimes, however, a normally impermissible question is so essential for filling a position that it can be asked anyway. "For a cashier vacancy, for example, a question about any convictions for property offences is OK, even though asking whether someone has a criminal record is generally impermissible," explains Stach.
Yes. If you're asked such questions in a job interview, you effectively have - in Germany, at least - "the right to lie," Stach says, a right resulting from a German Federal Labour Court decision that refusing to answer a question can be construed as concealing unfavourable circumstances.
Since then, he goes on, it's been generally acknowledged that a job applicant's untruthful answer to an impermissible question must have no detrimental consequences.
The problem, notes Hauer, is that job applicants often don't know on the fly whether a question is impermissible or not. So she says it can be wise to inform yourself beforehand in accordance with the labour laws in your jurisdiction.
To avoid incriminating silence or lying, job applicants can try to respond diplomatically to an overly probing question, such as by politely pointing out that it's out of line. Stach has a couple of suggestions:
"I'm not sure that this piece of information is relevant to the position. I'd like to ensure that we focus on my qualifications for the job." Or: "I don't think that personal aspects necessarily have anything to do with my suitability for the position. I'd prefer to talk about my professional skills."
The questioner's the one in the driver's seat, so when an applicant's in doubt, Hauer advises asking the interviewer about the relevancy of the requested piece of information to employment with the company. This, she says, puts the employer's representative on the defensive.
And if you have the feeling you're being discriminated against, Stach advises documenting the impermissible questions. This can be helpful in case you decide to take legal action against the employer.
Did you tack on a few extra years of work experience or overstate your competency in Microsoft Excel? While it's understandable that job applicants want to present themselves in the best possible light, you should be truthful, Stach advises.
If you embellish in answers to legitimate questions about experience or skills, you risk arousing the employer's mistrust, he says. What's more, you put yourself under pressure by creating unrealistic expectations of your abilities, which can be highly stressful.
You're on thin ice, legally speaking, if you answer permissible questions in a job interview untruthfully. The consequences can range from labour law sanctions to dismissal or the employment contract being contested.
"The contract would then be contestable on account of malicious deceit, and that's a sharp sword," remarks Hauer. "The contract is then immediately annulled without protection against unfair dismissal."
Dismissal on grounds of a lie is subject to strict requirements though, according to Stach. "First of all, the lie must concern information essential for the position in question," he says.
Secondly, the lie must be a violation of the employee's duty of good faith towards the employer so serious that the employer can't be reasonably expected to honour the contract. In addition, there must be no measure to restore trust milder than dismissal.
Employees unsure of their rights should seek legal counsel. – dpa
