The most outrageous job application question

[milestogo]

Today a friend of mine told me about a job application for a big box store that asked when was your last menstrual period!

I found a site that said Chevron has similar inappropriate questions regarding sexual/pregnancy history: http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/invasive-inappropriate-questions-on-chevron-job-application/

I could not believe it. I don't know if its illegal though.

[MANative]

1. Wow. I'm a VP of HR and I honestly can't even imagine what to do with that question.

If I really stretched, I'd guess it could be used to determine if someone is pregnant, which is an illegal question. That'd be one way to get there without the explicit question. Bizarre.

[struggle4progress]

2. A story like that, if true, would quickly become major news IMO

Take it with a big shake of salt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. As far as I know it would probably be illegal in the U.S.

Your friend should check with the EEOC. The Chevron application is from Australia and I don't know whether it would be illegal there.

[Ron Obvious]

4. This reads like something specifically designed to take advantage of a loophole in the law...

... to find out what they REALLY want to know but can't ask outright. E.g. They can't ask you your age, but AFAIK, they CAN ask you what year you graduated High School giving you the same answer.

I'm sure they can't ask you for fertility status directly, but want to know anyway because of health insurance coverage.

Just a guess.

[Warpy]

6. No, they're asking a woman if she's pregnant

"None of your business" is the best answer but it won't get you the job.

[Major Nikon]

9. They can legally ask you whatever they want

However, there are many things that are illegal to base hiring decisions on. So it's kind of stupid to ask these kind of questions because all they are doing is providing ammo to any resulting discrimination complaint.

[milestogo]

5. The person in question was a temp looking for a permanent position at the same store

and she had to fill out the application to apply.

Chevron does employ people in the US, so I wonder if they have a different application in the US vs Australia. It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of pregnancy, so I think any questions related to that would be disallowed.

[WinkyDink]

7. "Australia" is a pertinent bit of info.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Which big box store?

Just curious