THE GUARDIAN: The women’s website has come under fire for surveying its writers about race, sexual orientation, drug use and abortion.
Lindsey Green, a spokeswoman for the site, said the survey was completely optional and given to the writers only after they had been hired.
But labor lawyer Jonathan Segal said the company was courting disaster, especially with questions an employer is simply not supposed to ask. “When I first saw this, I thought, ‘Is this a spoof, or is this real?’” Segal said. “Some of the things that are on here are OK. You could ask someone, for example, question 22 – ‘What did you major in?’ – or 23, ‘What’s the highest level of education?’ OK. What is your religion? The answer is ‘plaintiff.’”