I work as an independent contractor and was recently reminded that many of the questions I’m asked are illegal to ask for standard employees and I’m wondering if it’s legal for a prospective employer to ask me these questions if I’m working as an independent contractor. What exactly are the questions a prospective company is allowed to ask an independent contractor? Are there any limits or are they only supposed to ask those same questions as if you were applying for employment?

First off, in terms of whether independent contracts can be asked different questions, all I can find are that it’s legal to ask specific questions if they directly relate to the ability of the applicant to do the job. The Department of the Interior has a useful table of legal / illegal questions.

After digging around quite a bit further, the best answer I’ve found was on the terrific Business.Gov site. Here’s what they say about this very important subject: