Legal Question in Business Law in California

First, a general principle of the right of free speech is that you can ask anyone anything, unless and except what has been expressly made illegal by statute, or, less often, by judicial decision interpreting other law and policy. However, asking certain questions has been made illegal in a job-interview context. See, for example, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, portions of which are codified as Civil Code sections 51 and 52. Obtaining this information isn't specifically prohibited, but making use of it for discriminatory purposes is, and since generally the information has little use except for purposes which are illegally discriminatory, employers generally don't ask for it. Even asking for maiden name of spouse would probably be deemed as an indirect way of asking marital status, and hence an indirect approach to potential discrimination based on marital status.

The employer must comply with reporting of various data to the govt to prove 'non discriminatory' hiring practices, and to obtain employee insurance coverage. However, some questions would be improper, such as age, and marital status unless needed for insurance applications. If it is a religious organization like a church or church school, they can require same faith in employees. and are exempt from virtually all discrimination laws. IF you can show actual violation and discrimination using the info, then feel free to contact me to discuss the situation and see if there are grounds for legal action.