Job applications and asexuality

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That's easy. They will either ask for a picture to be included, look at the name of the school the candidate attended, as well as hobbies and interests. Ironically, these people aren't afraid to stereotype in this kind of situation. So, if a person lists as hobbies fencing, playing chess, and listening to opera, the affirmative action censors aren't afraid to assume that person is white. And if for parents, "unkown" is given for father, and hobbies include rap and basketball, the affirmative action censors aren't afraid to assume that person is black.

On the other hand, they may want clones of those working there, and the most common sexual orientation is heterosexual, so they may be discriminating against who are "different".

I had had phone screenings with 3 different companies where they actually asked "Are you married?". My "no" response did not get me any further in the process with them.

I can tell you that unless you are applying for some kind of specialized job, such as police or military intelligence, asking you whether you are married is highly illegal.

If you live in the USA, this is *very* illegal.

From my understanding, even if those questions are optional they are illegal to ask. I know that I have done some interviewing for my company, and they are extremely strict on what topics you can talk about. I'm not even allowed to ask where someone is from or grew up, because it's related to their national origins. If I asked someone about their sexuality, even with a stipulation, I'd be fired for sure!!

It should be illegal to ask any of those questions. They get away with a lot of it for "survey" information and claim they don't use it (I don't believe it). If they want to ensure it's not misused, have the survey submitted in a separate envelope with nothing but a job number on the form so they know what job position the stats apply to. Having it submitted with the application doesn't ensure the hiring people do not look it over as part of the application.

Though illegal in some states (i read the federal laws and somehow sexual orientation and martial status are NOT in the protected areas), how do you handle such a question if asked? They will likely dismiss you if you don't answer it, and it is very hard to launch a formal complaint as the burden of proof is on you.

I don't know about sexual orientation, but I assure you as an employer myself that they would hang me for asking job candidates if they are married, among other things, such as their age (provided they are over eighteen), or whether they have children, are pregnant, etc.. And that is a federal law.

^^ This is the fedaral law: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/index.cfm Though many states expand this to other categories such as sexual orientation or martial status. So you are doing more that the federal law requires.

And age discrimination only applies for employees 40 and older.

When you begin to hire and fire people for a living, we will discuss it. Until then, I will say you don't know what you are talking about.

Statistics, my arse! This is illegal in any civilised country and you should make a complaint to the appropriate government authority. Yes, proving you were discriminated against is difficult, but if it's illegal in your jurisdiction to even ask, proving that is pretty easy - just show the form, which hopefully has some company details on it.

Leaving aside the weirdness of this being on a job application, on one level, the problem is that the meaning of "sexual orientation" is not concrete. An asexual person could still be interested in romantic relationships. Can we then classify that person as lesbian, hetero, etc., based on who they like to date, even though there is no sex involved? It's unclear to me. If we can, then I don't see why asexuality would need another box.

However, if someone is asexual and aromantic, in the interest of providing a full range of choices on the form, there would be reason to include a box for that.

On another level, I can imagine that all of the choices and indeed the question itself may be unanswerable and meaningless to someone who does not factor in the sex of those to whom she is attracted.