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Most interviewers don’t sit down planning to break the law. They ask ‘Do you have kids?’ to fill an awkward pause, or ‘Where’s that accent from?’ out of curiosity. The trouble is that under the UK Equality Act 2010 and Title VII of the US Civil Rights Act, those questions can land an employer in a tribunal and cost a candidate a job they were qualified for. Our editorial team works with hiring managers and candidates every day, in London, New York, Manchester and Manila. The 10 categories below cover every off-limits question we see surface in interviews, with examples of what’s asked, the safe alternative employers can legally substitute, and how to respond if one lands on you in the room.
The legal frameworks that decide what’s off-limits
In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 protects 9 characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Acas, the public body that advises on workplace rights, puts it bluntly: an employer must not’ ask a job applicant about health or disability at any stage of recruitment, except in narrow, role-specific circumstances.
The US system does similar work through several statutes stitched together. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act covers race, colour, religion, sex and national origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects workers over 40. The Americans with Disabilities Act handles disability and medical history. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the newer Pregnant Workers Fairness Act cover pregnancy. All of it is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The volume of complaints tells you these rules get broken often. The EEOC received 88,531 new discrimination charges in fiscal year 2024, a 9.2% rise from the previous year, with disability and race among the fastest-growing categories. On the UK side, Acas handled 124,613 early conciliation cases between April 2024 and March 2025, of which 29% related to discrimination. Disability discrimination claims at the Employment Tribunal nearly doubled year on year in 2025/26, according to Ministry of Justice Reform system data.
A separate Monster recruiting study found that roughly 20% of interviewers still ask inappropriate questions, often without realising it. This is the heart of the problem. Most of these questions sound friendly. They feel like small talk. And they can still cost an employer a six-figure award, with average UK Employment Tribunal awards reaching £53,403 for sex discrimination and £102,891 for age discrimination in 2023/24.
The 10 categories of illegal interview questions
1. Religion and religious observance
‘Which religious holidays do you observe?’ is the textbook example. The interviewer usually just wants to know whether a candidate will need certain Fridays off. Asked directly, it makes religion a hiring factor, which is discrimination under both Title VII (US) and the Equality Act 2010 (UK).
The legal question is about availability, not faith: ‘This role requires occasional Saturday cover. Are you available to work weekends if needed?’ Same information, no legal risk.
2. Sex, gender and gender identity
Questions like ‘Are you sure you can handle this job? It’s usually a man’s role, or ‘How would you cope in a mostly female office?’ comes up more often than you’d expect, particularly in trades, engineering and senior leadership recruitment. They’re direct discrimination under section 13 of the Equality Act, full stop.
Gender reassignment is a protected characteristic in its own right in the UK. Asking a trans candidate about their transition history, their birth name, or any surgery is unlawful and can trigger a harassment claim alongside a discrimination claim. The long-running Bailey v Stonewall litigation, dismissed at the Court of Appeal in December 2025, is a reminder that tribunals take belief-related and gender-identity claims seriously on both sides of the question.
What’s legal: ask about the work. ‘Tell me about a time you led a team through a difficult project.’ That’s it.
3. Marital status, parental status and family plans
‘Are you planning to have children?’ is the question that has filled the most tribunals. It almost always gets asked of women in their late twenties and thirties, which is exactly why it’s unlawful: it treats women differently because of an assumption about future caring responsibilities.
In the UK, pregnancy and maternity are standalone protected characteristics, so the legal bar is even lower than for sex discrimination. An applicant doesn’t need to point to a comparator to bring a claim. In the US, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act covers the same ground, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (in force since June 2023) adds a duty of reasonable accommodation. The EEOC filed its first 5 PWFA lawsuits in FY 2024.
If you’re an employer worried about cover, ask the cover question: ‘This role involves occasional travel at short notice. Will that fit with your circumstances?’ Same data, no risk.
4. Age
‘How old are you?’ ‘When did you graduate?’ ‘When do you plan to retire?’ All three are routes to the same problem.
The UK Equality Act covers age as a protected characteristic with no upper or lower limit. The US ADEA covers workers aged 40 and over. Average UK tribunal awards for age discrimination ran to £102,891 in 2023/24, the highest of any discrimination category, according to Ministry of Justice tribunal compensation tables. That’s not a trivial line item.
What’s legal: ‘Are you legally allowed to work in this country?’ and ‘Where do you see your career in 5 years?’ Both probe what the interviewer actually wants to know.
5. Disability, health and medical history
This is the area where well-meaning interviewers most often slip up. Asking ‘Do you have any health conditions we should know about?’ or ‘Have you ever taken time off for your mental health?’ before a job offer is unlawful in both the UK and the US, except in narrow exceptions tied to the role itself.
Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010 and the Americans with Disabilities Act both restrict pre-offer health questions sharply. You can ask whether a candidate needs reasonable adjustments to take part in the interview itself. You cannot ask about their disability status, their medication, their history of treatment, or whether they’ve ever been signed off work.
The ‘do you take drugs?’ question from older HR templates sits squarely in this category. The answer would often reveal protected medical information about prescription medication for ADHD, anxiety, chronic pain, or other conditions. Drug testing after a conditional offer is a separate matter and is permitted in some sectors, particularly safety-critical roles.
6. Race, ethnicity and national origin
‘Where are you really from?’ is the question that hurts twice. It’s discriminatory under Title VII and the Equality Act, and it tells the candidate exactly what assumption is being made about them.
Race is consistently among the top 3 EEOC charge categories. In FY 2024, 34.2% of all charges filed with the EEOC included a race claim, according to the agency’s annual report. UK Employment Tribunal data from HMCTS shows race discrimination as one of the most common protected-characteristic claims, behind disability and sex.
You can ask: ‘Are you authorised to work in the UK?’ (or the US). That’s it. You cannot ask where someone was born, what their parents’ nationality is, or what language is spoken at home, even if the candidate has a noticeable accent.
7. Citizenship and immigration status
Distinct from race, but easily confused. In the US, you can ask whether a candidate has the legal right to work and whether they will need visa sponsorship. You cannot ask whether they’re a US citizen, what visa they hold beyond what’s needed to confirm eligibility, or whether they’re ‘documented’. The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits national-origin discrimination separately from Title VII.
In the UK, employers have a statutory duty to check right-to-work documents under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, but the check happens once a job offer is on the table. Asking about visa type, country of origin, or sponsorship needs before that point is risky and usually unnecessary.
8. Criminal record
This area has shifted dramatically over the past decade. According to the National Employment Law Project, as of 2025, 37 US states plus the District of Columbia have ‘ban-the-box’ laws that restrict when employers can ask about criminal history. Most push the question past the initial application, and many push it past the first interview. Washington, D.C., issued more than $500,000 in penalties for ban-the-box violations in a single 2019 enforcement case.
In the UK, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 means that ‘spent’ convictions do not have to be disclosed for most roles. Asking about them anyway, or factoring them into a hiring decision, can amount to indirect race discrimination given the over-representation of minority ethnic groups in conviction data. Roles involving regulated activity with children or vulnerable adults are the obvious exception, where a DBS check is required.
If your business runs background checks, do them after a conditional offer, in writing, and apply them consistently across every candidate for the role.
9. Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 in the UK and is covered by Title VII in the US following the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v Clayton County ruling. That decision clarified that ‘sex’ in Title VII includes sexual orientation and gender identity.
Questions like ‘Are you married? Husband or wife?’ or ‘Will your partner mind the travel?’ can produce a discrimination claim even when no malice was intended. Stick to the work. If partner travel is genuinely a factor, ask the candidate directly whether the travel pattern fits their circumstances, without asking who they’re going home to.
10. Salary history
This is the fastest-moving area of pre-employment law. According to HRDive’s running tracker and the National Conference of State Legislatures, 22 US states plus the District of Columbia have banned salary history questions outright. The list now includes California, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Washington and Colorado, among others. The aim is to stop historical pay gaps following workers from job to job.
UK guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission is softer but pointed in the same direction: asking about previous pay tends to reproduce pay inequality, and best practice is to ask about salary expectations instead. A Glassdoor Economic Research survey found that 53% of US workers think the question should never be asked, with 60% of women holding that view compared with 48% of men.
If you’re a candidate in a salary-history-ban jurisdiction and an interviewer asks anyway, you can politely decline. ‘I’d rather focus on what this role pays. What’s the range you’ve budgeted?’ works fine.
What’s banned vs what’s legal at a glance
| Off-limits question | Why it’s a problem | What you can ask instead |
|---|---|---|
| ‘What religion are you?’ | Religion is a protected characteristic | ‘Are you available to work the schedule the role requires?’ |
| ‘Are you planning to have children?’ | Pregnancy and parental status are protected | ‘This role involves occasional out-of-hours work. Does that fit your circumstances?’ |
| ‘How old are you?’ | Age is protected in the UK, and over 40 in the US | ‘Are you legally permitted to work here?’ |
| ‘Do you have any health conditions?’ | Pre-offer health questions are restricted under the ADA and section 60 of the Equality Act | ‘Do you need any adjustments for the interview or the role?’ |
| ‘Where are you originally from?’ | National origin and race are protected | ‘Are you authorised to work in this country?’ |
| ‘Have you ever been arrested?’ | Arrests aren’t convictions; ban-the-box laws restrict timing | After a conditional offer: ‘We run standard background checks. Anything we should know?’ |
| ‘What’s your current salary?’ | Banned in 22+ US states; bad practice in the UK | ‘What’s your salary expectation for this role?’ |
| ‘Are you married? Husband or wife?’ | Implicates sexual orientation, marital status and parental status | ‘Are you available to start by 1 July?’ |
How to respond when an interviewer crosses the line
Three options sit in front of you at the moment.
Answer the underlying business question, not the personal one. If they ask, ‘Are you planning to have kids?’, say ‘I’m fully committed to the role and the hours it requires.’ You’ve given them what they actually need to know.
Politely decline. ‘I’d prefer to keep the conversation focused on the role’ is firm and professional. Most reasonable interviewers will back off. The ones who don’t are telling you something useful about the workplace.
Note it for later. If the question feels deliberately discriminatory and you don’t get the job, you may have grounds for an Acas early conciliation case in the UK or an EEOC charge in the US. Both have time limits (currently 3 months in the UK, 180 to 300 days in the US, depending on the state), so move quickly.
Humour can work if you have the read for it. ‘Funny you should ask, I was about to ask you the same thing’ has been known to end a line of questioning without burning the room. Use sparingly.
If you’re the one doing the interviewing
The shortest version of every rule in this article is: stick to the job. Write down the criteria the role actually needs, ask the same questions of every candidate, and document your decision against those criteria. The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Employment: Statutory Code of Practice sets out the standard in detail and is worth a read.
If you want the long version, train your interview panel. Acas, the EEOC and SHRM all publish free hiring-manager guidance. The cost of one tribunal claim, set against an average sex discrimination award of £53,403 or an age discrimination award of £102,891, dwarfs the cost of a half-day training session many times over.
Frequently asked questions
What questions are illegal in a job interview in the UK?
Under the Equality Act 2010, employers cannot ask questions that discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Section 60 of the Act also restricts pre-offer questions about health and disability, except in narrow circumstances tied to the role.
Can an employer ask if you have children in an interview?
Not directly. Asking about children, family plans or childcare arrangements is widely treated as indirect sex and pregnancy discrimination in the UK, and parental-status discrimination in many US states. If the employer needs to know about your availability, they should ask about your availability.
Is it illegal to ask about salary history in a job interview?
In the UK, it isn’t strictly illegal, but the EHRC discourages it, and many employers have dropped the question voluntarily to support pay equality. In the US, 22 states and the District of Columbia have outright bans, with the list continuing to grow.
What should I do if an interviewer asks an illegal question?
You have 3 sensible responses: answer the underlying business question rather than the personal one, politely decline to answer, or note the question and consult an employment lawyer if you don’t get the role. Document the question and the date as soon as you can after the interview, while it’s fresh.
Can interviewers ask about disability or health?
Only in narrow circumstances. Under both the Equality Act 2010 (UK) and the ADA (US), pre-offer questions about health, disability or medical history are restricted. Employers can ask whether you need reasonable adjustments to take part in the interview itself, and they can ask health questions tied directly to an essential function of the job.
Can an employer ask about my criminal record?
It depends on where you live and what the role is. UK employers can ask about unspent convictions for most roles, and about all convictions for roles requiring a DBS check. In the US, 37 states plus the District of Columbia have ban-the-box laws restricting when the question can be asked. Best practice across both jurisdictions is to wait until a conditional offer is on the table.
Sources
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, FY 2024 Annual Performance Report (January 2025): https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-publishes-annual-performance-and-general-counsel-reports-fiscal-year-2024
EEOC, Pre-Employment Inquiries and Religious Affiliation or Beliefs: https://www.eeoc.gov/pre-employment-inquiries-and-religious-affiliation-or-beliefs
EEOC, What Can’t I Ask When Hiring?: https://www.eeoc.gov/employers/small-business/4-what-cant-i-ask-when-hiring
Acas, Equality Law Call for Evidence Response (2025): https://www.acas.org.uk/equality-law-call-for-evidence-acas-response
Acas, Following Discrimination Law in Recruitment: https://www.acas.org.uk/recruitment/follow-discrimination-law
Acas, Protected Characteristics: https://www.acas.org.uk/protected-characteristics
Equality and Human Rights Commission, Equality Act 2010 Summary Guidance on Employment: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/equality_act_summary_guidance_on_employmentnew.pdf
UK Ministry of Justice, Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
National Employment Law Project, Ban the Box: Fair Chance Hiring State and Local Guide (2025): https://www.nelp.org/publication/ban-box-fair-chance-hiring-state-local-guide/
HRDive, Salary History Bans State and Locality Tracker: https://www.hrdive.com/news/salary-history-ban-states-list/516662/
Glassdoor Economic Research, Salary History Survey: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/salary-history-survey/
US Department of Labour ODEP, Focus on Ability: Interviewing Applicants with Disabilities: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/publications/fact-sheets/focus-on-ability-interviewing-applicants-with-disabilities
Ciphr, UK Workplace Discrimination Statistics 2024-25: https://www.ciphr.com/infographics/workplace-discrimination-statistics
