[em-bee]

The employer usually does not know about your family structure

when i need to let go people from my company because i need to downsize for whatever reason i need to choose those who would be least affected. that means i need to know who is single, married, or has children. because if i let go the one who is a parent instead of someone who is single, they might sue me because it would cause them undue hardship, if say finding a new job would force them to move which would affect the other parents job and also the kids school. and their whole social life.

sometimes this can't be avoided. if all my employees have families and children then i am stuck. but if there is a choice, then the choice must be the person who is more likely to recover, or who has less dependents. the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

long story short, i have to know the family structure to make that choice.

[apparent]

What country are you in?

And when you say "I need to know" do you mean you want to know, or you are legally compelled to make decisions based on these criteria?

Why do you fear lawsuits from parents as opposed to single people? Are there grounds for a lawsuit that involve whether someone is a parent?

[em-bee]

i am talking about germany, but i believe this is true for many european companies. i am legally compelled to not dismiss people if that causes social/financial hardship for them, when i could dismiss other people who would face less hardship.

basically i need to consider three factors: how long they already worked in my company, how old they are, and their family situation, whether they have dependents.

failure to consider these risks a lawsuit making the dismissal invalid.

this of course does not apply to dismissals that are related to bad behavior or lack of qualification.

on the other side: unique qualifications that i need to keep my business running are also exempt even if that person otherwise would be the one facing the least hardship from a dismissal.