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Well, the question is not "can someone sue me over this," since the answer is pretty much always "yes they can." *Any* question you ask can "open you up to a lawsuit," as no one has to prove their suit is winnable or even reasonable before filing. You'll still win if you're right or lucky (or both), but that takes time and money. The question is, "is this likely to push someone over the edge who wouldn't have sued me otherwise" or "is this going to make it a little bit harder for me to win the case." And sometimes, whether we like it or not, the answer is "yes."
I think the part of Andrew's "test" that raised red flags is the fact that it looks like an objective test but is evaluated subjectively. Everyone (I hope) knows there are many correct answers to "Why do you want to work here?", but when you give someone a technical test and then evaluate it not necessarily based on the answers, but on how you feel about the way the person came up with the answers... well, like I said earlier, it's not necessarily a *good* or *valid* reason to sue, but it could definitely be an inspiration for a lawsuit.
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Tracy Boyington tracy_boyington -at- okcareertech -dot- org
Oklahoma Department of Career & Technology Education
Stillwater, OK http://www.okcareertech.org/cimc
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>>> Rebecca Stevenson <rstevens -at- atg -dot- com> 03/02/01 02:42PM >>>
Although I'm not in position to hire anyone and should probably keep my mouth
shut, IMO this thread has gotten a touch ridiculous. From the tenor of some
posts, I'm getting the impression that asking a candidate if they know how to
write in the Roman alphabet could open the interviewer up to a lawsuit. How
about if he called it "standard interview questions" instead of "test," since
that word seems to scare everyone so much?
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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