Candidate has heart attack before starting job...?
March22Collector
45 Posts
Here is one for you...We offered a candidate a salaried position pending the outcome of a drug screen and physical. The employee was supposed to take the drug screen and physical last week, and their start date was tentative for 2 weeks from today. Here is the story:
The candidate is driving to our company's doctor for the drug screen and physical when his wife calls him on his cell phone. She informs him that the doc had called and because of a family emergency had to reschedule the appointment. The candidate leaves me a message that the appointment has been rescheduled and I in turn call both the doc and the candidate to confirm. The rescheduled appointment is set for this week.
I receive a call today from one of the candidates references. This person informs me that while driving home from the cancelled doc appointment, the candidate had a massive heart attack. He was care-flighted to a nearby hospital where he is to undergo 5-bypass surgery today. The reference tells me that the candidate wanted him to call and express his desire to still obtain the position, after the 4-5 weeks off that the doc has predicted.
What would you do, or could you do legally, in this situation? Our policy is set up that if an employee fails the drug screen or physical that our offer of employment is rescinded. But in this case, the candidate can not make it to the doc's appointment. Are we required to wait now, or can we rescind the offer? If it makes any difference, we have been looking to fill this position for almost a year now.
All opinions are appreciated. Thanks!
The candidate is driving to our company's doctor for the drug screen and physical when his wife calls him on his cell phone. She informs him that the doc had called and because of a family emergency had to reschedule the appointment. The candidate leaves me a message that the appointment has been rescheduled and I in turn call both the doc and the candidate to confirm. The rescheduled appointment is set for this week.
I receive a call today from one of the candidates references. This person informs me that while driving home from the cancelled doc appointment, the candidate had a massive heart attack. He was care-flighted to a nearby hospital where he is to undergo 5-bypass surgery today. The reference tells me that the candidate wanted him to call and express his desire to still obtain the position, after the 4-5 weeks off that the doc has predicted.
What would you do, or could you do legally, in this situation? Our policy is set up that if an employee fails the drug screen or physical that our offer of employment is rescinded. But in this case, the candidate can not make it to the doc's appointment. Are we required to wait now, or can we rescind the offer? If it makes any difference, we have been looking to fill this position for almost a year now.
All opinions are appreciated. Thanks!
Comments
I will take a stab at this.
The candidate is unavailable to work and not available to fulfill the pre-employment screening that is required as a condition of employment. I would advise the candidate that, regretably, you must continue the recruiting process. When he is available to work, he is welcome to apply for any position that might be available.
Since the candidate has technically not yet become an employee, I would think you would not have any legal obligations towards him at this point.
However...if you wanted to hold the position for him, I don't think there is anything that would preclude this either.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman
A court will likely reason that since you recently extended an offer and don't when he recovers, that you MUST be rejecting him because of his medical condition. That's one side of the coin. The other side is that our workplaces are full of people who've had heart attacks who are top producers and we should not be about the business of discriminating against previously or presently ill people. Since I covered both sides of the coin, I shouldn't be stoned too violently.