Chevron stillbirth questions legal, but it's what happens next that counts A recruitment form used by global energy giant Chevron which asks prospective employees how many stillbirths they have had exposes a worrying loophole in the law, according to legal experts. There is no legal prohibition in asking a range of questions and even offensive or intrusive ones Giri Sivaraman, a workplace lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, said there was "no inherent unlawfulness about asking questions." He said employees might have remedies available to them if they could prove that the employer used the information to discriminate against them or if the information was disclosed contrary to privacy laws. But the questions were "not discriminatory until they were used against the applicant," he said. I think there's a real lacuna in the law here in terms of protecting employees during that [selection] process. Mr Sivaraman said he had advised "thousands of employees over the last 15 years and have never seen a form like that. I'd hope that it's not taken up by other employers. I would have strong concerns about the information being used unlawfully against employees. Fundamentally there needs to be some sort of protection of the dignity and privacy of employees. Earlier, Slater and Gordon industrial and employment lawyer Simon Millman told Fairfax Media a recruitment form which asked such personal questions could breach several discrimination and privacy laws. Joydeep Hor, the managing principal of workplace law firm People + Culture Strategies, said: "There is no legal prohibition in asking a range of questions and even offensive or intrusive ones - the legal problem arises when the employer does something disadvantageous to the candidate as a result of their answer to the question. For example, candidates who were asked these questions by an Australian employer would only have been discriminated against if they were treated less favourably - in other words, someone who had had a childbirth difficulty in their life who answered honestly such a question who still was hired and had a normal career would not have any course of action. Mr Hor said in his experience "most Australian employers were reasonably conservative with their interviewing techniques and quite respectful of boundaries. There's always a few renegade senior leaders who feel they can ask whatever they want but they are in the minority.