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full screen Viktor, 30. Photo: Private
When 30-year-old Viktor was looking for extra work, he reacted strongly to a job advertisement.
The employer asked questions about his ethnic background, sexuality and disability.
– This should be illegal, I immediately thought.
On a job platform, Viktor, 30, was looking for an extra job to have alongside his studies. He applied for various serving jobs, bar jobs, and shop jobs. A job advertisement for the Brewdog bar attracted and Viktor decided to apply.
But he reacted quite directly to the questions.
– I read and just thought “Wait, what the hell are they really asking me?”
The ad asks questions about his private life and identity. Questions about ethnic background, sexual orientation, religion and disability are included in the form.
– So I got really damn annoyed, says Viktor.
– Either they will discriminate because I am white and male, or they will give me a chance because I am white or male.
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Screenshot from the job ad.
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Can round GDPR
The Privacy Protection Authority cannot comment on the individual case, but Fredrik Löfgren, a lawyer at the authority, believes that it may be that companies are not covered by the GDPR as it is based in Great Britain.
But according to the GDPR, employers can process sensitive personal data for statistical purposes if a number of circumstances are met, says Löfgren.
“Passionate about diversity”
The company itself writes in the advertisement that diversity is something they are “passionate about” and that the questions should help them more easily understand the diversity among the job seekers. They also write that the information will be treated as confidential and only used for statistical purposes. Those involved in the recruitment will also not be allowed to share the information.
The questions are mandatory, but the answer option “does not want to state” can be selected. But regardless of whether one can choose not to answer, the questions affected Viktor.
– It feels like I will be left out because I don’t want to give out my information, he says.
The local Brewdog restaurant refers to the Scottish branch of the company which handles the job adverts. They reply that there has been a technical error which has caused the wrong questions to be included in the advertisement.
“We became aware that some questions appeared for Swedish job roles that should not have been presented to candidates and we closed these as soon as we became aware of the issue.”