With more candidates applying for fewer jobs, it’s increasingly common for unsuccessful applicants to sue employers. How are courts responding?
In one recent case, a female candidate sued after she didn’t get a job offer. She claimed the company’s interview process was biased.
Each applicant was asked the same questions by the same four-member panel. The interviewers scored each response. The scores were totaled, and the top candidates were offered jobs.
The woman’s complaints: All the interviewers were male, and the questions, in her opinion, weren’t job-related. The company decided “soft” skills were more important than technical experience, so focused most of the interview on those.
The applicant sued, claiming she was most qualified but rejected because of her gender.
The judge threw her case out. Why?
It wasn’t up to the applicants to decide how they were going to be evaluated. That’s the employer’s job.
What mattered most was that all the candidates were treated the same. There was no evidence that the male panel treated female candidates any differently than men.
Cite: Turner v. Public Service Co. of Colorado
