A person's religion is in almost all employment contexts an entirely private issue and asking a job candidate about her religion suggests that that religious affiliation is one of the criteria on which she is being assessed. Again, even if this is in fact not the case, the manager has opened up the process to the suggestion of religious bias.
If, however, the person conducting the interview is the director of a religious school, then he does have the right to inquire about the candidate's religious affiliation and beliefs. A teacher at a religious school must be able -- arguably -- to be able to instruct students in religious tenets (even if her formal position is as a math teacher, for example) and to serve as a model for the religion's tenets. However, unless religious beliefs and practices are central to the carrying-out of a job, a job interviewer may not legitimately bring them up (Religious groups push for faith-based hiring.)
Another area in which a manager might fail to support the laws that govern hiring and so be in need of gentle guidance of the professional acumen of human relations officer is that of race. Both federal and state laws prohibit bias in hiring on the basis of race or ethnicity: It is simply and absolutely forbidden to deny the best qualified person the job simply because that person is of a different race than the interviewer -- or even the same race. Race can never be a legitimate criterion in rejecting the best candidate.
Let us return to our example, assuming once again that the manager is well-intentioned but clueless and had been napping through all of the excellent human relations seminars that that office has been putting on. So in this case the manager opens the interview as follows:
Manager: So I see that your last name is 'Godines'....
That's an unusual name. I've never heard it before. Tell me -- is it a Spanish name? Or I guess I mean a Mexican name? Is that where you came from?
Again, the manager is probably acting in good faith. He is probably simply curious about a name that might be Hispanic in origin but might not be. He may simply be expressing interest in this job candidate. However, by bringing up the subject of national origin (and in this case the related subjects of ethnicity and race), the manager has laid the company open to both civil and criminal prosecution for racial bias (Handling racial discrimination in the workplace; Avoiding discrimination based on race and national origin).
While there are certainly are managers who are bigoted, incompetent, and even malevolent and hire, promote, and fire people for all the wrong reasons. However, far more common are those managers who are good at other aspects of their jobs but need the help of human relations personnel to get all the important legalities right.
References
Avoiding discrimination based on race and national origin. Retrieved from http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/avoid-race-discrimination-national-origin-29870.html.
Handling racial discrimination in the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.blackcollegian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=185:chaz-kyser&catid=48:workplace-issues&Itemid=124
Jolls, C. & Prescott, J.J. (n.d.). Disaggregating Employment Protection: The Case of Disability Discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/Faculty/Jolls_and_Prescott_2_11_052.pdf.
Religious groups push for faith-based hiring. Retrieved from http://www.opposingviews.com/p/bias-religious-groups-push-for-faith-based-job-hiring.
