Ever Hear Of Contacting A Spouse About Employment?

unless pursuant to a permissible defense

You are conflating permissible defense, the law actually lists the permissible defense in this case, as b and c.

Law Book

A link to a law Book discussing the law. I suppose you may dismiss it as the two attorneys you already have. I'm running out of ideas myself, evidence including the law, multiple attorneys asserting such, a pamphlet from feha that lists acceptable and unacceptable inquiries...I guess when I get in California this week I can hit a library and start researching case law.

I remember going to some seminars on HR legalities and I would always leave there with my head spinning.

I'll just quote myself as I leave this conversation. I think it's obvious to everyone why I quit listening to the HR experts a long time ago.

FEHA fact sheet

Per the link...please read the second paragraph under the "Employees" section of page one. Based on that language, a blanket statement calling an inquiry for a spousal reference "illegal" is unsupported and unfounded.

It can easily be proven that truck driving can and likely will disrupt family dynamics. It can also be easily proven that trucking companies do not discriminate based on marital status. How many documented court cases exist for trucking companies discriminating against a job applicant (rejecting them) because of marital status?

Again it goes back to how the question was originally asked of the OP. Unfortunately that basic fact has somehow been left out of this ongoing discussion.

You cherry pick a paragraph related to medical inquiries and infer that spousal references are legal? The chart states the question is unacceptable, lists guidelines for such medical inquiries in the chart, the actual law I linked states it's unlawful, and an employment lawyer states "are you married?" is a question that is flat out illegal in "many states.".

How many people go into trucking with a job listing requiring being away from home for months at a time (or oilfield, shipping, or countless other jobs that have such a requirement) not having discussed this with their spouse? Now, it's one thing talking about it and quite another living it, but that's not exactly going to be solved by some hiring manager talking to you either.

Regardless, none of this is going to really matter to the guy in the op applying for a job (the employment attorney link earlier touches on this). It's not going to matter to me, either. It IS illegal in at least one state, and very likely "many" others, and I personally find the inquiry rather silly. If you Google search this, it is something that has come up in other industries, and even has some other forms discussing this very topic.

To follow Brett's rhetoric... Moderators here really, really want this to be legal.

I would never ask a person's weight in an interview either (and a woman whether it was an interview or not lol), but if the job was operating equipment with a weight requirement I would inquire if they meet such requirement, and the employment offer would be conditional upon them meeting it. I don't see how that's any different than an age requirement for a job...I'm not going to ask "how old are you?". Silly hr folks indeed.

No Matt...I do not want anything discriminatory to be legalized. Regardless, you have yet to convince me the following statement made to an applicant is illegal or out of line for OTR trucking:

Because OTR trucking requires extended periods away from home and related stress, is it possible to discuss your application with a family member such as a sibling, parent or spouse?

There is zero intent to discriminate, and again easily proven. I wrote this statement day's ago...and have been very consistent with my replies in this thread.

I did however incorrectly reference your link, my apology. I meant to and should have referenced the first three paragraphs. The document needs to be considered in its entirety, not just the columns of "do's and don'ts".