Pre-Employment Inquiries and Medical Questions & Examinations (2024)

FAQs

What determines if a question is acceptable in a pre-employment inquiry? ›

The guiding principle behind any question to an applicant—whether the question is asked by the interviewer or appears on the employment application—should be, "Can the employer demonstrate a job-related necessity for asking the question?" The intent behind the question, as well as how the information is used, is what ...

Under the law, employers generally cannot ask disability-related questions or require medical examinations until after an applicant has been given a conditional job offer.

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) limits an employer's ability to make disability-related inquiries or to require medical exams at three stages of employment: pre-job offer, post-job offer, and during employment.

In general, one should avoid any questions that, either directly or indirectly, are likely to elicit information about an applicant's membership in a protected class, including the applicant's race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, national or ethnic origin, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status ...

The ADA places restrictions on employers when it comes to asking job applicants to answer medical questions, take a medical exam, or identify a disability. An employer may not ask a job applicant, for example, if he or she has a disability (or about the nature of an obvious disability).

An examination performed by a licensed physician, or an examination performed by physician's assistant that is subsequently reviewed and approved by a licensed physician, to determine the physical condition and general health of a person for duty.

In California, an employer may require an applicant to take a medical exam AFTER an offer of employment has been made. It is legal to condition the job offer on the results of the exam, provided the following factors are met: The exam must be job related and consistent with business necessity.

Questions about prior or current illnesses, any medications or medical treatments, substance abuse, disabilities, or Workers' Compensation claims are illegal. So are all questions about the applicant's family medical issues.

Employers may conduct employee medical examinations where there is evidence of a job performance or safety problem that they reasonably believe is caused by a medical condition, examinations required by other federal laws, return-to-work examinations when they reasonably believe that an employee will be unable to do ...

What is a medical inquiry? ›

A medical inquiry is any question about an individual's health or disabilities. • A disability-related question is a question that is likely to elicit information about a. disability.

Hence, employers are not allowed to reject a job candidate solely based on high blood pressure readings. Can diabetes cause you to fail pre-employment physicals? If a person has diabetes, it's possible that they may fail a pre-employment physical as a result of their condition.

In general, the typical physical exam will consist of the healthcare provider checking the patient's history, vital signs, and general appearance. The provider may also conduct a heart exam, lung exam, head and neck exam, abdominal exam, neurological exam, dermatological exam, and extremities exam.

Classification of Blood Pressures

Meaning, if a candidate's blood pressure registers at 150/100 or higher we will not perform the physical ability test. There are several different classifications of blood pressure.

Lawful Inquiries: “Can you lift 40 pounds?” or “Do you need any special accommodations to perform the job you've applied for?” or “How many days did you miss from work (or school) in the past year?” Such questions must be specific and relate to requirements listed in the job description.

CDFA prohibits any non-job-related inquiry, either verbal or through the use of an application form, which directly or indirectly limits a person's employment opportunities because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, medical condition, mental or physical disability, marital status, gender, pregnancy, ...

We recommend that you avoid asking applicants about personal characteristics that are protected by law, such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age.