I was asked during an interview 1)If I was married 2)If I had children and then the interviewer, after the doctor retreated to his office to answer a call turned to me and said "Now, I know I'm not supposed to ask these kind of questions, but do you smoke?" I did answer no..then she went on to explain "You know, what are you supposed to do, when you are allergic to that kind of stuff, can't really stand to be around it, and someone who you work with or wanting to be hired you know, does that" and so on and so forth. Sounds like she would have denied me the job if I had answered yes kind of deal. Just thought I'd ask about this. State= Alaska

Surprisingly enough, the question she thought she was not supposed to ask, was the unquestionably legal one. Nothing in the law of your state makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of smoking or non-smoking.

Both marital status and parental status are protected in Alaska (Alaska is one of only two states that protect parental status). However, that doesn't mean that it was illegal to ask the questions; only to use the answers in making the hiring decision. If you get the job, there's no issue. If you don't get the job, it's only an issue if you have a valid reason to believe that you were not hired because of your marital or parental status. The smoking issue is, in your state, irrelevant.

It was foolish to ask the questions, because if you don't ask them, you can't be accused of using the answers in making the decision. But asking the questions in itself is not violating any laws.