A reader writes:
I just lately interviewed for an admin position, basically entrance reception, for a personal hospital. The job is completely non-clinical.
After the interview, the hiring supervisor emailed me to say that they want to progress my utility to the subsequent stage. Within the e-mail they included a hyperlink for me to finish some pre-employment checks. Some have been commonplace, equivalent to proof of identification, legal historical past report test, and so on. However step one is a “pre-employment well being questionnaire,” which asks me to reveal my medical historical past, within the type of answering sure/no to a protracted record of illnesses, together with however not restricted to:
• epilepsy, matches, blackouts, fainting turns, or dizzy spells
• any damage or situation involving the neck, again, shoulders, limbs, and so on.
• any pores and skin situation together with eczema, psoriasis, or dermatitis
• any coronary heart situation
• any lung situation together with bronchial asthma
• migraines or frequent complications
• hay fever (?????)
• psychological sickness or nervous circumstances, together with nervousness, despair, phobia, psychosis, or nervous breakdownNone of those are related to the necessities of the position. I used to be already not sure about going additional within the recruitment course of attributable to some extra data I gleaned in the course of the interview, however this has me feeling particularly uneasy. To be clear, I’ve not but acquired a job provide.
Each individual I’ve approached for an opinion has questioned the legality of all of it, and albeit I’m in the identical boat. I intend to e-mail the hiring supervisor to withdraw my candidacy, for numerous causes, however is that this “well being questionnaire” cause sufficient?
Holy hell, sure. That is flagrantly unlawful.
(Additionally, eczema? Why?!)
The Individuals with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employers from asking job candidates medical questions except they’re particularly associated to the job and “in keeping with enterprise necessity.”
Some employers do require a pre-employment bodily (which I’d argue is a big overstep for many jobs, and an outdated relic from the previous). However even then, that may’t occur earlier than they’ve provided you the job and they’ll’t reject you due to data revealed by the examination, except the explanations for the rejection are “job-related and in keeping with enterprise necessity.”
Oddly, the examination itself doesn’t must be job-related and in keeping with enterprise necessity. They’ll ask about psychological sickness, STDs, hay fever, something they need throughout it. They simply can’t reject you over it except they’ll present there’s a professional job-related cause to take action. (In case you are considering that is weird and inappropriately invasive … sure.) Additionally, usually the one factor from the examination that may be disclosed on to the employer is the examiner’s conclusions about whether or not or not you’ll be able to work with or with out lodging or restrictions. The examination outcomes, together with any medical historical past taken from it, wanted to be handled as confidential and stored separate from different employment-related information.
However you’re not even at that time. You don’t have a job provide. You’re a job candidate, not an worker or a brand new rent. So that is simply unlawful, plain and easy.
It sounds such as you’re planning to withdraw from their hiring course of regardless. While you do, free to inform them what a part of your cause was this invasive and unlawful medical questionnaire. You can too report their violation of the legislation to the EEOC, and right here’s information on how to do this.
