Hey guys it's Chelsea from The Financial Diet and this week's video is brought to you by Squarespace and this week we wanted to talk to you guys about the questions that you may someday be asked when looking for a job that you're not at all required to answer and in fact probably shouldn't.

Some of these questions are not outright illegal but could lead to serious discrimination suits if someone were to pursue them against the hiring company. It's important when you're looking for a job that you know your rights and you set your boundaries especially when looking for your first job out of school you can feel so excited at the prospect of getting any job that you don't even feel like you need to question the means of getting there but the job interview process while a lot of it is in the hands of the person doing the hiring is not a moment of total powerlessness for the person who's applying.

You have every right to be discerning about the kind of things you say to a potential employer and the kind of things that are asked of you. So, we're gonna go into some of the questions that you might hear and what to do when you're asked them. The first question is "Are you married?

Pregnant? Thinking about getting pregnant?" So this is one of those lines of questioning that actually is in many cases against the law there are many discrimination laws set in place and some might vary state to state but some are also federally mandated that are there to protect people who might be vulnerable to discrimination in the case of hiring and that could be based on ethnicit,y gender, race, cultural background, religion etc but it can also be based on life choices one might make. In the case of women that choice could be do we think you're going to have a kid in the next few years and how is that going to impact our bottom line.

You not getting hired or promoted at a job because your employer thinks that you might have a kid someday is super against the law. It's also just on a personal level incredibly uncomfortable to be asked this as a woman because we know all too well that these questions are not often posed to men even though realistically it takes two parents to make a kid. Do not feel that you have to apologize to be a young woman who might be of marrying or childbearing age nor that you have to justify or explain any future life choices you might make.

If you're ever asked any of these questions around your relationship or childbearing status in the interview, even if it's posed in a casual way, be on the lookout and one very good way to respond to this that is professional and respectful but still very clear about setting boundaries. We'll link you guys in the description to some of the specific laws protecting women who might be getting married or pregnant in the next few years around their employment. Knowing your rights in the workplace is incredibly important and it starts even before you get the job.

Number two is "How many children do you have?" or "How old are they now?" This one is similar to the first but a little bit different in the sense that the rules outlining what is and isn't okay to ask about someone's children are a little blurrier. It can be harder to prove that these kind of questions were used to potentially discriminate against someone but it's also very important to consider the context of this question. We know that in the workplace in America the way women are regarded as parents is very different from the way men are in a similar situation.

We're the only developed country without guaranteed maternity leave and although the situation has improved for working mothers, when surveyed people are more likely to assume that the responsibility for child rearing should fall more toward the mother than the father. In fact studies show that when men become fathers their earnings over the course of their career actually increase and the opposite is true for women having children is an enormous hit to a woman's earning potential and that only increases the more children she has and this is as much to do with people's expectation of her at the workplace ie "Why aren't you home or with your kids?" combined with "Why aren't you staying as late as the men?" which is an unwinnable game ,is a huge part of this. So asking a woman around the number of children she has or whether she has them in a job interview is a good way for an employer to suss out pretty quickly how much that will be a real or perceived constraint on her time and you don't have to answer this.

If and when you're asked this question here's a good way to respond. Number three is "Do you have any religious holidays you celebrate?" now this is an inappropriate question for two reasons one it's a way for an employer or potential employer to pry into your religious life which actually is discriminatory but it's also a way for them to assess whether you'll be taking additional days off that are not on their regular calendar. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Yom Kippur, Ramadan, or nothing at all that is not your employer's business you have the freedom to practice whatever religion you want at the workplace and more importantly to not be judged on that criteria when you're looking for a job.

If you sense that an employer is prying into your religious background and this can often be the case for candidates who might outwardly appear to belong to a certain religion, remember that you have rights in this situation and your biggest one is to not play that game. If and when you might be asked this question you can simply respond. Obviously if your religious beliefs would actually preclude you from doing a job as it was listed you probably shouldn't be applying for that job but in most cases your religious beliefs and any holidays therein should not be a factor.

The fourth question is "Do you have any disabilities?" or any questions around a possible disability. Now it should be clear that some jobs do have physical requirements that need to be met in order to do the job and sometimes applications will ask you questions around your strength mobility etc let's say for example a job requires you to transport heavy objects or run or perform physical tasks and in those cases it's up to us to be realistic about what we can and cannot do but for the majority of jobs your physical abilities should not be consideration in the hiring process and there are plenty of discrimination laws in place to protect Americans with disabilities and for the record these protections can also apply to people who are mentally disabled as well as physically disabled although physical disability often leads to more frequent discrimination. Particularly if you have a visible disability that might attract more questions than usual it's important you know you're right not to answer them.

Any disability that does not literally prevent you from doing the tasks required of the job should not be a consideration and more importantly when setting our own boundaries for things like our physical or mental limitations it's important that we remember that we are not on the defensive. These are rights and it's well within your right to assert them If you are asked this question or a similar one remember there are plenty of options to respond, including. And remember as with being asked other discriminatory questions it is always within your right to bring these issues to the proper government body.

We'll link you in the description below on how to report some of these issues if and when they arise in your workplace. Lastly number five "Were you born in the US?" "Were your parents born in the US?" Any question that hints toward your immigration status, your citizenship, your cultural background, or ethnic background is not okay. As long as you are legally within your right to be working in the US you have no reason to be questioned on these issues and while you may be asked to confirm on an application or in person that you are legally allowed to be working in the US, and an employer has the right to ask that question, anything beyond that is not okay.

Just because you may appear to have a certain background or nationality is not at all a reason to be discriminated against for a job. An employer is not allowed to directly ask you where you were born or where your parents might have been born and the distinction between the two whether you are legally allowed to work somewhere or whether you may be from somewhere else are very very different. Particularly as the rhetoric around immigration and immigrants becomes more and more hostile this may be an increasingly severe issue in job applications and workplaces.

If you sense at all that you have been discriminated against in this way or being asked unfair questions you have every right not to respond or to report it and if you do respond here's a great option. Beyond that your background is, survey says, bone of their business! There are many more questions than these that are definitely not okay to be asked when you're applying for a job and we'll link you to more of them in the description but in the short term it's important to remember when you're in the job application process which can feel often very desperate that you are not in a position of powerlessness.

Know your rights assert your boundaries and always be professional and respectful but do not give in to something that's not appropriate to be asked for. And one employer you can be sure we'll never ask you inappropriate questions is yourself. If you've been thinking about possibly starting a side gig or a new stream of income one of the best ways to get your website for it off the ground is with.

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As always guys thank you so much for watching and don't forget to hit the subscribe button and to come back every Tuesday and Thursday for new and awesome videos. Bye!