Steer clear of questions about the candidate's marital status or children.
Some states, like New York, explicitly ban employers from discriminating against applicants based on their marital status.
While Title VII, the portion of the federal Civil Rights Act that prohibits employment discrimination, does not bar employers from asking for information relating to protected class status, it does ban discriminatory employment decisions made on the basis of this information.
Because of this, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — which brings lawsuits against employers on behalf of workers — advises employers against asking about marital status or number of children because these questions are often used to discriminate against female employees (and discriminating against women is illegal).
Questions that may be regarded as evidence of intent to discriminate include:
"Are you pregnant?"
"Are you married?"
"Do you plan to get married?"
"How many kids do you have?"
"How old are your kids?"
"Do you plan to have kids?"
"What are your child care arrangements?"
"What does your spouse do?"
"What's your spouse's name?"