Turned down for a job - possible discrimination

[Sandra6]

I applied for a sales advisor position with a furniture company who are opening a new store locally.
I'm more than qualified for the job, have a proven track record in customer services and turned up looking presentable and was articulate throughout the interview.
I never heard a word.
I've just emailed the recruiter pressing for feedback and had an immediate response - like wihtin minutes!! - with the standard response of "stronger candidates on the day, nothing I did wrong "
Now the reason I'm pressing the matter is that during the interview they asked me a lot about how my family would affect me doing the job.
Seriously the first question was whether I was married and had children. They also pushed the matter in terms of going away for training and working weekends etc.
So, question is, how do I word it so I can say "I think you're discriminating against me" without just saying it. Or do I just say it?!
I was looking to go with
"Thanks for the prompt response. The reason I'm requesting specific feedback is that I felt the line of questioning revolved around my family committments and not my ability to do the job. "
Thoughts?

 

[hopless500]

That last line should do the trick.

 

[Bimble]

"Thanks for the prompt response. The reason I'm requesting specific feedback is that I felt the line of questioning revolved around my family committments and not my ability to do the job. "

Sounds about right.

 

[jefmcg]

Seriously the first question was whether I was married and had children.

That is illegal.

https://www.gov.uk/employer-preventing-discrimination/recruitment

Maybe make a free phone call to
https://www.gov.uk/equality-advisory-support-service

 

[Sandra6]

I don't expect them to turn round and offer me the job afterall, but I do want to make them squirm a bit.
Will be interesting to see who they did take on when the shop opens.

 

[Sandra6]

That is illegal.

https://www.gov.uk/employer-preventing-discrimination/recruitment

The tricky thing is, it's not illegal to ask the question, but it is illegal to discriminate based on the answer - hence me wanting to push them on it.

 

[marinyork]

Unfortunately I don't have the time to answer this properly.

I would heavily recommend having a read through this before sending off an e-mail.

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/employercode.pdf

Chapter 16. Also other bits in there around page 36 and page 55.

 

[jefmcg]

it's not illegal to ask the question,

Yes it is. Read the link

Questions you can’t ask when recruiting
You must not ask candidates about ‘protected characteristics’ or whether they:

• are married, single or in a civil partnership
• have children or plan to have children

 

[User33236]

Questions about kids or marital status during an interview are absolutely discriminatory are among a number that should NEVER be asked. By all means reply to them with the question you posted but don't hold out for a sensible answer. If you want to take it further I am sure there are a number of ways of doing that.

A number of years ago I wasn't shorlisted for a job I was more than suitable for and called to enquire why. I was told on the phone it was due to the fact I 'went to the wrong school', in other worlds my perceived religion didn't tally with who they wished to employ. i chose to drop it as, unfortunately, they weren't daft enough to put it is writing.
.

 

[marinyork]

And on the above document I've had this a lot of times, but I would like to point out the words in the foreword

This document is a Statutory Code of Practice. This is the authoritative, comprehensive and technical guide to the detail of law. It will be invaluable to lawyers, advocates, human resources personnel, courts and tribunals, everyone who needs to understand the law in depth, or to apply it in practice.

It's not what someone has said down the pub.

 

[nickyboy]

The tricky thing is, it's not illegal to ask the question, but it is illegal to discriminate based on the answer - hence me wanting to push them on it.

Quite. However, having asked the question I think the onus would be on the Company to show that they had not discriminated against you based on your response.

As you say, you won't get the job no matter how this plays out. But you can make them squirm a lot if you wish and, who knows, maybe some ex gratia to make you go away

 

[Sandra6]

Yes it is. Read the link

Oh right. I had a google the other day, but it seemed to imply you could ask, but you weren't supposed to.
Does it matter how they phrased it?
This is how the conversation went
Interviewer - So, tell us about yourself.
Me - well, where to start.
Interviewer - Are you married? have 12 kids?
Me - well I am married, but not quite 12, I only have 6 children.
They then went on to ask their ages, and how it worked for us as a family with me being at work etc.
It was all very friendly, and I got in my points about how good I am at my job etc. But with hindsight they didn't ask anything specific about what I do or for me to elaborate as they usually do =you know the usual "give us an example of a time you refrained from murdering a customer"

 

[r04DiE]

The tricky thing is, it's not illegal to ask the question, but it is illegal to discriminate based on the answer - hence me wanting to push them on it.

Seems pretty plain that it is not allowed:

Questions you can’t ask when recruiting
You must not ask candidates about ‘protected characteristics’ or whether they:
are married, single or in a civil partnership
have children or plan to have children

 

[Sandra6]

If it's a national chain I would address your enquiry to the Head Office HR person/team, rather than the local store.

I've emailed the personnel chap who set up the interview.
I wrote " I'm a little surprised to have not heard anything since my interview and was hoping for some feedback on my performance"
His reply was "apologies for the delay, the hiring managers have been deliberating extensively. Standard of candidates very high, with regret we won't be offering you the position. They enjoyed meeting with you and it was purely a case of stronger candidates being seen on the day rather than anything concerning your performance"
I think they're being vague and I want a direct reason for not giving me the job, because (without being big headed) I can't come up with one.

 

[slowwww]

I have had to go through an interview accreditation process for my employer (large Financial Institution) and have been instructed that when greeting interviewees we're not even allowed to enquire how their journey was when making small talk before the interview commences lest it be deemed at a later date that we discriminated on the grounds that one candidate lives further away than another!! Such direct questioning about family commitments is waaaaaay out of line.