XP with WM: Odd application questions...

*Cheese*

I'm looking at an online job application for a company for whom I interviewed earlier this week. The position is for an office job, and the application is specified as being for such.  (There are some job functions at that company that involve manual labor).

However, I am stuck on some of the questions.  I am asked to "describe my health", asked whether I'm currently receiving any kind of medical treatment, date I last visited a doctor and their name , and have I lost time from work in the past 3 years due to illness or injury, and do I have any physical or mental conditon that might limit my duties and/or require reasonable acomodation.

I am uncomfortable answering these questions because - were I to answer truthfully, the answer is yes, I have some problems with my blood sugar (although it's unusually well controlled, and the last time I had an "issue"/missed work due to the condition was 2 yrs ago due to my client keeping us at the office until 10 and refusing to let us take a dinner break.) And the last doctor I saw was an endo, the one who gives me my meds. At my last job, none of my colleagues knew I was a diabetic for about 3.5 years, until the aforementioned incident. About a year before that incident, I also missed a few days of work due to being in a bad car accident.

ETA:  Non-insulin dependent, so the only "special accomodation" I need is, reasonable breaks for meals/permission to keep snacks at my desk. 

I feel like the question is discriminatory because (1) my condition clearly doesn't affect my work; and (2) it's not really their concern since I'll be staying on my husband's health insurance anyway. I find it really intrusive that they want to know my doctor's name too.

How would you handle these questions?  Would you ask for clarification from HR or run screaming down the street rather than work for this company? 

 

Dr.Loretta

I'm going to play devil's advocate and figure their legal team made them include these questions because they were either sued or accused of not accommodating someone's medical condition. Whether that was someone in a wheelchair, or had chronic back pain, or was pregnant, or something altogether different.

I would also assume (maybe incorrectly, but I'm a trusting gal) that any info you put on an app is going to be kept confidential and not shared with the world just because you applied for the job.

I would answer honestly, but I'm a "I have nothing to hide" sort of person.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to tell HR of your concerns and see what they say. For all you know they may just tell you to not worry about it.

bearkatjen

I'm surprised they can legally ask those questions. I mean they can't ask you about your family life, so why can they ask you that stuff?

Paranoid me says they don't want some that might raise their medical insurance premiums or something.

Hmm, yeah, I don't think they can be asking you those questions. I found this:

http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/preemp.html

ADA Enforcement Guidance: Preemployment Disability-Related
Questions and Medical Examinations

        Introduction

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the "ADA"),1 an 
employer may ask disability-related questions and require medical 
examinations of an applicant only after the applicant has been 
given a conditional job offer.  This Enforcement Guidance explains 
these ADA provisions.2

        Background

In the past, some employment applications and interviews requested 
information about an applicant's physical and/or mental condition.  
This information was often used to exclude applicants with 
disabilities before their ability to perform the job was even 
evaluated.

For example, applicants may have been asked about their medical 
conditions at the same time that they were engaging in other parts 
of the application process, such as completing a written job 
application or having references checked.  If an applicant was 
then rejected, s/he did not necessarily know whether s/he was 
rejected because of disability, or because of insufficient skills 
or experience or a bad report from a reference.

As a result, Congress established a process within the ADA to 
isolate an employer's consideration of an applicant's non-medical 
qualifications from any consideration of the applicant's medical 
condition.

        The Statutory and Regulatory Framework

Under the law, an employer may not ask disability-related 
questions and may not conduct medical examinations until after it 
makes a conditional job offer to the applicant.3  This helps 
ensure that an applicant's possible hidden disability (including a 
prior history of a disability) is not considered before the 
employer evaluates an applicant's non-medical qualifications.  An 
employer may not ask disability-related questions or require a 
medical examination pre-offer even if it intends to look at the 
answers or results only at the post-offer stage.

Although employers may not ask disability-related questions or 
require medical examinations at the pre-offer stage, they may do a 
wide variety of things to evaluate whether an applicant is 
qualified for the job, including the following:

 * Employers may ask about an applicant's ability to perform 
   specific job functions.  For example, an employer may state the 
   physical requirements of a job (such as the ability to lift a 
   certain amount of weight, or the ability to climb ladders), and 
   ask if an applicant can satisfy these requirements.

 * Employers may ask about an applicant's non-medical 
   qualifications and skills, such as the applicant's education, work 
   history, and required certifications and licenses. 

 * Employers may ask applicants to describe or demonstrate how they 
   would perform job tasks.

Once a conditional job offer is made, the employer may ask 
disability-related questions and require medical examinations as 
long as this is done for all entering employees in that job 
category.  If the employer rejects the applicant after a 
disability-related question or medical examination, investigators 
will closely scrutinize whether the rejection was based on the 
results of that question or examination.

If the question or examination screens out an individual because 
of a disability, the employer must demonstrate that the reason for 
the rejection is "job-related and consistent with business 
necessity."4

 

Meg1979

I am also very surprised about these questions.  I would be reticent about answering them.

dramaz

I'd ask HR for clarification about them before making a decision on answering. That seems very not cool to ask.

Ready4theParty

I agree they are odd, but I would still answer them.  I agree with Dr. Loretta on this one though.  Even though I'm sure you have your health under control, I think I would want my employer to know that I have a condition just incase something were to happen.

5thOfJuly

Side note---it actually IS legal to ask you about family status, etc. (though some companies have a company policy against it.) You just can't use their answers to make a determination about hiring someone.