I am so mad!!!

Emily1990_2

At the company I work for they asked me this question in the interview. I should have taken it as a sign not to accept the job to be honest.

~daisy~_2

havent read all the thread but just wanted to say that the company i work for doesnt even have DOB on there application forms in case someone cries age discrimination - when my boss is interviewing i ask oh how old was so and so and she will in all honesty say ive no idea we didnt ask !!

nice approach imo

Skint_Catt

dktreesea wrote: »

I find it a bit bizarre that a small business owner with only a few employees would even bother to interview a woman of child bearing age for a role in his or her company. It's a waste of the employer's time (they presumably already knows that women of child bearing age are not on their prospective employee "list") and the interviewee's.

PMSL - some employers are obviously not as psychic as you are - date of birth etc aren't included on CV's and application forms for this reason! It's discrimination! Next you'll be saying you shouldn't interview me because I'm not English!

clairec79

NI numbers give a rough guide to your age (in most cases)

Angel89_2

Thats how employment is nowadays though,
especially with natioanal unemployment coming up to 15%.


Theres nothing you can in reality do about it,
as theres absoluetly no way of proving anything as you have no evidence at all.

mandragora_2

No, they shouldn't be asking those sorts of questions, I know. But I also know that if I was in their situation, they'd be the questions I'd want answers to - I wouldn't ask them, of course, but doesn't mean to say that I'd be desperate to recruit someone who could tell me the day they start 'Thanks very much, oh and by the way, I'm pregnant'. With around 35 key staff where I work (for roles which it is very hard to find stand-in replacements, & it takes about a year for replacement staff to really 'find their feet', even if you can find them in the first place), there is 1 woman currently on maternity leave, another 2 just back having had first babies, and another 2 about to go off at Christmas, and that's before there's any mention of the 2 young women who are getting married in the next 6 months. Sad to say, but you know with a sinking heart that they will go on and have second and possibly third babies - and so they should, and are entitled to etc etc - but what it really means is that at any given moment over the next five years or so, we can expect to be about 15% staff down, with the rest of us trying to cover as best we can. It does make you think 'Ok, the next job that comes up, if all other things are equal, I'm not sure we can afford another woman who might go on mat leave'. I have no idea at all how small businesses manage. Cripes, even the adverts for the vacancies that arise cost in the region of £1000, recruiting good staff takes up a full day of two or three senior managers - if you are able to recruit, induction, settling in period, support etc etc - it all adds up, sadly.

mum2one

ohreally wrote: »

Make a complaint to the equalities commission http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/your-rights, their lawyers will pick this up if theres a case.

Seek advice about making a complaint to an employment tribunal...http://www.employmenttribunals.gov.uk/FormsGuidance/beforeMakingRespondingClaim.htm

Thats sound sound advice, why should your personal life be treated as an open book, they wouldn't ask a man the same questions.

bristol_pilot

Actually, men are more likely to take time off or leave after a short time than women. Prejudice against women workers is just that - predjudice - which is why it's illegal. The OP will get a few thousand quid if she sues this firm and good luck to her.

mandragora_2

bristol_pilot wrote: »

Actually, men are more likely to take time off or leave after a short time than women.

Data? Source?

Skint_Catt

clairec79 wrote: »

NI numbers give a rough guide to your age (in most cases)

And my interviewer would have got that from where?