Managers often aren’t too careful about the notes they take while interviewing job candidates — after all, no one else needs to read them, right? Wrong — they might be seen by a rejected applicant’s attorney.

Interview notes got a company in big trouble in this recent court case:

A hiring manager had a practice of jotting down the race and gender of each candidate he interviewed.

The reason: to keep track of who’s hired and who’s rejected and make sure none of the employer’s hiring practices accidentally weeded out members of certain groups.

The intention was good, but, as they say, no good deed goes unpunished. An African-American employee sued the company after he was turned down for a job.

Once the court saw “African-American” written on his application, that was enough evidence to allow him and other minority applicants to file a class action suit against the company. You know what that means: It’ll have to fork over a hefty settlement or spend a fortune defending the claims in front of a jury.

Keep documentation clean

The lesson for hiring managers: You never know how the notes you keep for yourself will be interpreted by an outsider.

That’s why protected classes, such as race, sex, religion and disabilities, are off limits when it comes to interview notes. Even if it’s meant to prevent discrimination, a court may not see it that way.

Cite: Modtland v. Mills Fleet Farm