In a Wall Avenue Journal unique, some feminine candidates to Invoice Gates‘ personal workplace, Gates Ventures are claiming they had been asking inappropriate questions not suited to the office.
The ladies are claiming that the questions ranged from previous drug use to sexual historical past — supposedly to discern whether or not something within the candidate’s previous would make them susceptible to blackmail, the outlet reported. Some candidates are claiming they had been questioned on whether or not they had ever “danced for {dollars}.” At the least one applicant claims they had been requested about having ever contracted a sexually transmitted illness.
The in depth pre-employment screenings in query had been allegedly carried out by a third-party danger administration agency, Concentric Advisors, which works with a sequence of industries (together with personal household workplaces) to “mitigate dangers posed by people and teams with doubtlessly nefarious motives,” the corporate’s web site states.
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Concentric informed the WSJ that its pre-employment screening course of is equivalent for each women and men and complies with the legal guidelines in every state and nation the place it supplies its providers. The corporate added that it by no means initiated questions on sexual or medical historical past however that candidates might provide up such info when requested about public data.
A spokesperson for Gates Ventures additionally informed the WSJ that it requires all distributors it really works with for pre-employment screenings to adjust to state and federal legal guidelines.
“Now we have by no means acquired info from any vendor or interviewee in our 15+ yr historical past that inappropriate questions had been requested in the course of the screening course of,” the spokesperson informed the outlet. “We are able to affirm, that after a complete evaluation of our data, no employment provide has ever been rescinded based mostly on info of this nature.”
In keeping with the Equal Employment Alternative Fee, employers ought to keep away from asking private questions which can be protected by legislation, resembling inquiries on race, faith, gender identification, medical historical past, and disabilities.