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XP with WM: Odd application questions...
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?
Re: XP with WM: Odd application questions...
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.
Our little Irish rose came to us on March 5, 2010
Don't drink the water.
Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.
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