Can I Refuse to Take a Personality Test?
By Anne Fisher

(FORTUNE Magazine) – Dear Annie: I was recruited for a high-level finance job and was told that I would have to take a battery of personality tests. These attempts to get inside my head really bother me. Do I have a legal right to refuse these intrusive tests? --Go Ask Alice

Dear Go: Yes, but employers then have the right to refuse to hire you. "Bear in mind that the dominant principle of U.S. labor law is 'employment at will,' meaning that companies can hire you, or not, for any reason they want," says Ronald Shechtman, head of the employment law group at Pryor Cashman in New York City. "They have the right to be arbitrary. People have trouble accepting this." Indeed.

Shechtman says, though, that if companies consult their attorneys before forcing personality tests on people, they'll get an earful of caveats: "These tests are risky for employers. If a test is wrongly administered or assessed, questions arise about whether the results are discriminatory, which may be actionable in some states." Where things get really murky is with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, which prohibits testing for a medical condition prior to hiring. "So if a personality test were to indicate a potentially disabling condition--say, bipolar disorder or clinical depression--then you have an ADA issue," says Shechtman. "The irony is, if you know you have a psychological disability and that's why you don't want to be tested, you might actually have a case. But the run-of-the-mill neurotic does not." Too bad.

Send questions to askannie@fortunemail.com. Annie offers advice weekly at www.askannie.com.