Articles

Applicant Rights
by Dr. Lynne Curry

Question:
What rights do job applicants have? I’ve applied for dozens of jobs in the last four weeks and it appears employers have all the rights. I’ve tried to be fair to my present employer and do what’s right and scheduled interviews on my lunch hours so I don’t take work time but interviewers have kept me waiting so long it’s made me late back to work. Once, after waiting a half hour, I told the receptionist that if the wait were much longer I’d have to reschedule. After another fifteen minutes, I left. When I called shortly after one to reschedule, I was told her boss was quite ticked I’d left and said I was too unreliable to “waste his time” interviewing.

At least a third of all the employers I interview with ask me personal and inappropriate questions such as “If you have young children, do you have childcare for when they’re sick?” and “do you plan to get pregnant in the next year? Meanwhile, if I ask essential questions like “what’s the salary?” or “Could I look at a copy of the job description? I get told “we’ll talk salary with the applicants we make an offer to” and “we don’t have a job description.”

The worst was this morning. I applied for a job with a major corporation. The interviewer said their company had a zero tolerance for drugs policy and asked if I had any problem with that. I said, “No, I’ve never used drugs.” Then the interviewer said that the next step in the process was a “pre-hire” urine test. This was totally humiliating. I feel like the interviewer made the assumption I used drugs and was watching to see if I freaked out. Isn’t this an invasion of privacy or something?

Answer:
You don’t need to take the information about the drug test personally. The interviewer actually meant you’d passed the first round of interviewing and was giving you information about the second stage of the hire process. Most employers who conduct pre-hire drug tests conduct them on every applicant in certain job categories to remove any subjectivity from the testing process. Further, employers who have business or safety reasons may legally schedule drug tests without violating privacy rights. In December 2003, West Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wal-Mart’s right to conduct pre-employment drug tests on applicants. According to the Court ruling, given that employers routinely conduct reference checks and other intrusive pre-employment inquiries on applicants, job candidates have a lowered expectation of privacy during the job screening process.

This doesn’t, however, give prospective employers the right to ask you questions that create illegal discrimination. In most states, questions about either your childcare arrangements or potential pregnancy clearly violate the law. If you’re asked questions that relate to legally protected categories such as age, sex, race, national origin or religion, you’ve got several choices. You can decide “this is not an employer I care to work for” and leave. Alternatively, you can answer the questions and still report the employer to your state or city human rights commission.

I’d further urge you to forgive employers who don’t give you a job description. Many employers lack them and others give them out only after concluding the initial interview so they can guard against applicants who might alter answers to fit the job description and thus not provide a true picture of themselves. Similarly, some employers fear that if they give out salary information, applicants who might accept a lower salary may feel slighted if they don’t receive a “top of the range” offer. Personally, I think applicants deserve to know the salary range and the employer’s reasons for starting an applicant at the lower end of the range.

Finally, when you encounter employers who lack basic courtesy, ask yourself, “Do I want to work for this type of company? While the interviewing process starts out one-sided with the prospective employer appearing to have all the rights, employers need well-qualified employees. If you feel you’ve interviewed with an employer who treats you poorly, exercise your number one right. If they offer you the job, turn it down.