[jameshart]

And if your meal with them also reveals that the person asks the waiter whether the meat is Halal, or that their significant other is the same sex as them, then you had better have a better argument than 'I just didn't like the way they treated the waitstaff' or 'I don't like their SO' to justify not hiring them...

[Torgo]

This is a an unworkable viewpoint because it has no limiting principle. What if a person comes in for a job interview and is wearing a turban because they're a sikh? Should you put up a screen between you and the interviewer? Give them a voice changer so that you can't tell if they're a woman or a man. Use an interpreter so that regional dialects or accents cannot be detected. Ban pork products from your cafeteria in case a candidate comes in. This is not a winnable strategy. At some point you have to acknowledge that assholes can take advantage of anything.

Incidentally, I do think that taking people out for drinks to evaluate their character is a lousy practice but simply because many people don't drink for many reasons. Not because someone might secretly find out you're a religious minority.

[jameshart]

It means you need to use defensible candidate screening practices that clearly relate to assessing the candidate's fitness for the role. Asking to meet their current squeeze or taking them out to lunch to evaluate how they treat the waitstaff are not easily defensible. Asking them questions in an interview room about how they have previously performed in similar roles is.