[ambulancechaser]

> They do “eq” screenings for political fit during the interview process and he’s trying to get them to stop.

This sounds crazy to me. My last company would freak out if the dev team got together and discussed the person's politics and if we thought they should be hired or not based on that. I hope they do stop this.

The more i think about this the crazier it sounds. Imagine a Houston oil consultancy firm discussing a candidate who applied and asking "when we talked about lowering taxes, did the inflection in his voice sound real or feigned?". This is what an "old boys club" looks like.

[debt]

"the person's politics"

I interpreted it as a how a person deals with internal politics not what their political views are. the latter would most definitely be illegal.

[ambulancechaser]

from the OP > It stands for “emotional quotient” and they ask you a bunch of questions about diversity, feminism... They watch your responses for tone and vocabulary and can veto your hire if they deem you insufficiently enthusiastic.

It sounds very much like your opinions on current political topics.

[extra88]

I don't think the latter* is illegal because it's not discrimination against a member of a protected class. That doesn't make it okay or that it couldn't lead to other trouble.

[zephharben]

California law provides some protection from discrimination by employers based on political affiliation or activities. NY state and Washington DC have similar statutes.

[delinka]

But it’s not “affiliation” nor “activities.” It’s “is their stance on topic X compatible with ours?”

Still terrible. Still not illegal.