Should they be allowed to ask this?

[smokey]

A few years back I had a phone interview for a job in a shop that did all candles, jem stones, crystals, dream catchers and tie dye clothes that sort of thing.

I had the normal typical interview questions then all of a sudden the woman asked me what my religion was, I was a bit thrown back because I was always under the impression you where not allowed to ask this as direct as that when it comes to employment (fair enough if you where going to be working with a job directly related to a religion)
I replied "well I dont actualy practice a religion but am fascinated about learning about loads of differant ones"
so she said " im not asking about that, I just want to know whhat religion you are" so I told her I was C of E and she just ummed and erred and suddenly said sorry we arnt looking for anyone at present.

Do you think thats right that they should be allowed to ask that and make judgment just on what religion you where given at birth?

 

[ShanandBoc]

wow thats unusual.

What has ur religion got to do with employment? Thats discrimination!

 

[smokey]

Thats what I thought.
At the time I wasnt practicing a religion but very interested in learning about different religions (not to practice just to learn) now I do practice religion but i still love to learn about others, I just dont see why thay would have any bearing on my employment or how I do a job, if anything I would have thought they would be more agreeable with someone with an open mind given the type of shop but oh well.

 

[OmarsMum]

I also think it's discrimination. I went through sth similar twice. I live in a Muslim country & wearing a head scarf is common. When I 1st joined I wasnt covering my hair, but after few mnths I decided to start covering. The manager got p*ssed off, & he clearly told me that he hired me because I dont cover my hair! He closed the whole customer service dept (I was the manager) & moved me to the Call centre!

Another company gave me a call for interview & they were very impressed by my CV. My photo was old & I wasnt covering my hair, but when I went to the interview, the HR manager was shocked & told me clearly that he didnt knew I wear a scarf.

It's very dissapointing esp in a country that's multi cultural.

 

[hopeandpray]

That's terrible! and definitley illegal. and also completely irrelevant if you're not practicing anyway

 

[ChristinaRN]

Here in the United States it's totally illegal and you could sue a company over something like that! Totally discrimination!

 

[kiwimama]

You're not allowed to ask someone that in any circumstance here either. Even in our census which all questions are compulsory, apart from your religion. You can say you don't want to answer if you don't want to.

 

[Calasen]

Theres no way its right for any of them to hire/not hire you based on your religion but being in a multicultural country alot of places are starting to ask your religion but on the basis that some allowences would be needed for some religions and their practices and holidays.

 

[summer rain]

That is discrimination but it can be extremely hard to prove. I had a 'funny' experience when going for an interview at a major supermarket chain on one occasion, the woman doing the interview was shockingly ignorant (I didn't make my religion an issue but she started to ask really weird questions).

 

[Nimoo]

i know you could totally sue them but its always hard to prove!!

and dont see how religion is relivant at all for most jobs

 

[FragileDoll]

Ugh, horrible! Religion has nothing to do with employment, people with such thoughts disappoint me.

 

[xvmomovx]

I worked at a shop like that and she asked me what religion I was as well but not to discriminate. They liked knowing who to refer to for certain religious questions. People who go to shops like that are often pagan, new age christian, or sometimes just curious. But often I had people come in asking lots of questions about religion. So if I didn't know the answer I could tell them oh Sue knows a lot obout Buddhism and she's in on Fridays or something like that. But it sounds like that lady was discriminating and yes that's illegal... at least here it is.

 

[alaskagrown]

Depends on where you live!

If you live in some radical Middle Eastern country, you may as well get your head chopped off if you're Christian..

But if you live in the U.S., it's not okay to ask!