Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Not the Ideal Hiring Process …

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CN) - A woman claims Full-Channel TV refused to hire her after subjecting her to an illegal questionnaire that asked her to respond to questions such as "I am very sexual," "Sex is a little overrated," and "I attract attention from the opposite sex."

Rebecca Benoit, who applied for part-time work in customer service, says the questions "had no reasonable correlation to the employer's business or the suitability of potential employees and are intended to eliminate candidates based on an unlawful basis."

Defendant Full-Channel TV is an independently owned cable company. Benoit says that during her initial interview, the station asked other "personal" and inappropriate questions about her private life, including the ages of her children.

During a callback interview, Benoit says, she was given a questionnaire and told to rate her "feelings towards her body, political views, religious views, feelings about sex and the opposite sex among other things."

That 15-page questionnaire asked her to respond to the statements "Sex is a little over-rated," "I attract attention from the opposite sex," and "I am very sexual," Benoit says.

She adds that "not all employees, including males, are required to complete this questionnaire."

She seeks punitive damages for discrimination and civil rights violations, retaliation, labor violations and emotional pain and suffering. She wants to be made whole for lost earnings and benefits, and she wants Full-Channel ordered to reform its hiring and labor practices.

She is represented in Superior Court by Stephen Fanning.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...