Secure Flight twist: employer asking candidate DOB for booking interview trip
Aug 16, 2011, 6:07 am
#1
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Secure Flight twist: employer asking candidate DOB for booking interview trip
Companies aren't supposed to asked candidates about protected information, such as age. But if they want to book travel for an interview, they are forced to.
http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/jobd..._--_is_it.html
Not surprising that the company can claim cover since TSA "requires" this information. But I hope to eventually see an age discrimination lawsuit where a candidate's interview trip mysteriously gets cancelled after providing Secure Flight information to the company.
http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/jobd..._--_is_it.html
Q: I am interviewing for a sales role for a medical device company. The company has asked me to fly out to their headquarters in southern California to meet with the VP of Sales and some of the other senior leaders. When we were discussing the possible travel dates and logistics, they said that they would need my exact name (not a problem) but also my date of birth. When I asked about the date of birth requirement, they said that this is a TSA regulations requirement. Isn’t it illegal to ask my date of birth at this stage of the interviewing process? Is the date of birth a valid TSA requirement?
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A: ...
te of birth in order to make flight arrangements for you to travel to California to interview. Dretler explains, “The company is correct that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requires all airlines to collect the date of birth and other information from its passengers. If this candidate booked his or her own travel, then the company would not need this candidate’s date of birth for this purpose and very likely would not have any other valid grounds for requesting the applicant’s date of birth at this stage of the interview process.”
Since the company with whom you are interviewing appears to be asking for your date of birth in order to comply with federal law (i.e., TSA regulations), the inquiry appears to be permissible under both federal and Massachusetts law.
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A: ...
te of birth in order to make flight arrangements for you to travel to California to interview. Dretler explains, “The company is correct that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requires all airlines to collect the date of birth and other information from its passengers. If this candidate booked his or her own travel, then the company would not need this candidate’s date of birth for this purpose and very likely would not have any other valid grounds for requesting the applicant’s date of birth at this stage of the interview process.”
Since the company with whom you are interviewing appears to be asking for your date of birth in order to comply with federal law (i.e., TSA regulations), the inquiry appears to be permissible under both federal and Massachusetts law.
Not surprising that the company can claim cover since TSA "requires" this information. But I hope to eventually see an age discrimination lawsuit where a candidate's interview trip mysteriously gets cancelled after providing Secure Flight information to the company.
Aug 16, 2011, 6:20 am
#2
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I see it as a catch-22 of obsessive TSA stupidity, not a sinister plot by corporations to figure out your age. Companies that are going to pay to fly you in for an interview are probably smart enough to figure that out in other ways.
There could be some easy ways around it:
- book your own travel, get reimbursed, keep the credit card points (may not work for all candidates)
- book through a travel agency where the hiring company does not see your booking details
There could be some easy ways around it:
- book your own travel, get reimbursed, keep the credit card points (may not work for all candidates)
- book through a travel agency where the hiring company does not see your booking details
Aug 16, 2011, 6:24 am
#3
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I'm pretty sure that I've had to put down my DOB on just about every application I've ever filled out. Companies can ask all they want to about a candidate's age, they just can't not hire the person on that basis alone. Good luck proving that though.
Aug 16, 2011, 6:25 am
#4
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This just happened to me too in a different state. My now current boss clearly felt awkward asking for my DOB, and I was equally awkward being forced to give it to him. That said, he didn't bring it up, and nobody seems to care that I'm only in my mid 20s and have a job normally given to those in their early 30s.
That said, they should allow booking without DOB as long as they get it at check in.
My advice, don't make a big deal about age and giving them your DOB. If you can, give it to HR and not your would be boss. If you say something, it will turn something you have to assume is irrelevant into something noticed.
That said, they should allow booking without DOB as long as they get it at check in.
My advice, don't make a big deal about age and giving them your DOB. If you can, give it to HR and not your would be boss. If you say something, it will turn something you have to assume is irrelevant into something noticed.
Aug 16, 2011, 6:40 am
#5
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Having sat on the other side of the hiring desk ... I agree. Someone who wants to discriminate against you based on age can get a pretty decent estimate of your age based on other information you provide on your resume ... work history, degrees received, etc.. Granted, they have to work for it a little bit --- but only a little bit. (Gee, he graduated from Texas with his bachelor's degree in 1972. Most people get their bachelor's degree in their early 20s. I wonder how old he is now?)
Aug 16, 2011, 6:42 am
#6
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It's a perfectly legitimate question to further another requirement. Same thing as making sure that you are 25+ if they are going to arrange a car rental. The TSA requirement is not only perfectly lawful but makes a great deal of sense as matching DOB's eliminates needless "hits" on various watch lists.
Sort of a silly worry. They are flying you out for an in-person interview and that's going to provide them your approx. age. Lots of easier ways to get that information than spending a couple of thousand !
Sort of a silly worry. They are flying you out for an in-person interview and that's going to provide them your approx. age. Lots of easier ways to get that information than spending a couple of thousand !
Aug 16, 2011, 7:02 am
#7
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)It's a perfectly legitimate question to further another requirement. Same thing as making sure that you are 25+ if they are going to arrange a car rental. The TSA requirement is not only perfectly lawful but makes a great deal of sense as matching DOB's eliminates needless "hits" on various watch lists.
I should not have to provide to the government my name, DOB, gender, or the answer to any other question as a condition of domestic travel in my own country. If the airline wants to ask my name for ticketing purposes, fine, but I don't see any legitimate purpose to the government tracking domestic travel or using a permission-based system to control domestic travel.
Aug 16, 2011, 7:39 am
#8
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There are very few, if any, things that are truly illegal to ask during an interview. It's not against the law to ask things like DOB, gender, race, etc. It only becomes illegal if you discriminate based on them. Most companies train employees to refrain from asking these kind of questions to avoid even the appearance of discrimination.
Aug 16, 2011, 8:06 am
#9
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Having sat on the other side of the hiring desk ... I agree. Someone who wants to discriminate against you based on age can get a pretty decent estimate of your age based on other information you provide on your resume ... work history, degrees received, etc.. Granted, they have to work for it a little bit --- but only a little bit. (Gee, he graduated from Texas with his bachelor's degree in 1972. Most people get their bachelor's degree in their early 20s. I wonder how old he is now?)
Aug 16, 2011, 8:25 am
#10
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There is also no requirement to list your graduation date on your resume. I took the 12 year plan for a bachelors, so that was actually completed 10 years into my real "career". Most people don't even care about the degrees with 20 years of experience now.
Aug 16, 2011, 8:37 am
#11
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Bolding Mine: I am in the latter part of my 50s, and do not have a bachelor's degree. However, I am persuing that goal, which has always been to earn my BS before I retire. At the rate I am going, after changing majors twice, I will be happy to earn it while I am still ambulatory! I wonder if they can figure out my age when my projected grad date is in 2015...
At least I am in good company! ^
Aug 16, 2011, 9:41 am
#13
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I am in the latter part of my 50s, and do not have a bachelor's degree. However, I am persuing that goal, which has always been to earn my BS before I retire. At the rate I am going, after changing majors twice, I will be happy to earn it while I am still ambulatory! I wonder if they can figure out my age when my projected grad date is in 2015...
Clearly, age determinations from a resume are inexact, as others point out:
But we're getting off track. The point being ... an employer who wants to figure out a candidate's age for malicious purpose can probably figure it out, plus or minus a couple of years, from a resume and other publicly available information. Supplying a DOB for purposes of making an airline reservation makes the date explicit, of course. But presumably, if you've progressed through the hiring process to the point of being asked to interview in-person, you've hopefully gotten past any pesky discriminatory problems that might've happened ...
Aug 16, 2011, 10:46 am
#14
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I agree that it's not a sinister plot, but there is still a perception issue. If a candidate over 40 is asked this question to book travel and then suddenly the interview is cancelled for whatever reason (maybe the company lost the job slot), does that give the candidate grounds to file a complaint or sue? (Sorry to the rest of us under 40, government doesn't care about age discrimination against us. )
TSA could avoid needless "hits" on their idiotic, ineffective, erroneous, and unconstitutional blacklists by asking the DOB of only people who would otherwise match the blacklist, just like they do with redress numbers now. But instead, TSA creates a giant dragnet that vacuums up this personal information on every passenger.
I should not have to provide to the government my name, DOB, gender, or the answer to any other question as a condition of domestic travel in my own country. If the airline wants to ask my name for ticketing purposes, fine, but I don't see any legitimate purpose to the government tracking domestic travel or using a permission-based system to control domestic travel.
)TSA could avoid needless "hits" on their idiotic, ineffective, erroneous, and unconstitutional blacklists by asking the DOB of only people who would otherwise match the blacklist, just like they do with redress numbers now. But instead, TSA creates a giant dragnet that vacuums up this personal information on every passenger.
I should not have to provide to the government my name, DOB, gender, or the answer to any other question as a condition of domestic travel in my own country. If the airline wants to ask my name for ticketing purposes, fine, but I don't see any legitimate purpose to the government tracking domestic travel or using a permission-based system to control domestic travel.
Aug 16, 2011, 10:52 am
#15
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The TSA allows pax who are known terrorists to board.
Smarter known terrorists wouldn't use their real name any way.