Medical Questionnaires

rroberts

Can post offer medical questionnaires still be used?
Thanks

stilldazed

Yes, they can be used, but their usefulness is limited. What do you have in mind?

rroberts

stilldazed, Fl
The questionnaires are kept in the medical file to refer to if the employee experiences a medical problem while working.

stilldazed

Nothing wrong with doing that as long as the questionnaires are kept separate from personnel files and the information obtained via the questionnaire is not used in the hiring process.

One step further would be to include the questionnaire as part of a post-offer physical to see if the employee can perform the job duties. Again, results obtained by the questionnaire cannot be used in the hiring process, but there could be some very useful information available to you that you would not otherwise have an opportunity to collect, i.e., prior w/c history or other medical issue that may have a current impact on one's ability to do the job.

My company happens to have a situation going on right now that we are working to resolve. A worker was hired to work as a CNA, claimed to have no physical restrictions, and then produced a medical statement confirmed the presence of physical restrictions post recent spinal surgery. The new employee failed to disclose the information except for on the post-hire medical questionnaire (and there failed to disclose details such as how recent the surgery was and that there are post-surgical physical restrictions). When the active work schedule was assigned, guess what happened? We received a doctor's stmt and an excuse for why the schedule was not allowable along with a formal request for restricted work duties from the very start. From where I sit as HR director, what we have instead now is misrepresentation.

By the way, another forumite also had good input on the contingent work offer. Make offers contingent based on the results of post-hire surveillance activities, advise the new worker that the offer is contingent and subject to rescission based on unacceptable results of the surveillance process (drug testing, reference checks, criminal background checks, fitness for duty physical, etc.).

Best wishes.

morrisg

The ADA permits, after making a bona fide offer of employment, for you to explain to the potential employee the essential functions of the job and then ask the if they can do these functions with our without reasonable accommodation.

For example, you may ask this person if they can lift heavy objects weighing over 50 pounds and if they can meet this requirement with or without accommodation. In this example you could not ask the applicant if they had a back problem or disc problems, anything medical related. Of course this also has to be an “essential part of the job”. Hiring a receptionist and then asking if they could lift over 50 pounds with our without accommodation, in most instances, probably is not an essential part of the job unless they regularly help, for example, unload the UPS truck each day.

In addition the EEOC has provided some example of questions you should never ask:

• “Is there any health-related reason why you may not be able to perform the job for which you are applying?
• “How many days were you absent from work because of illness last year?”
• Any question related to an applicant’s workers’ compensation history.

SMace

You can do all of that BEFORE an offer is made. How can you make an offer if you don't know they can do the job?

morrisg

You make an offer contingent on passing the physical exam and/or physical capacities test. The physician needs to have a job or task description outlining what the physical requirements of the job are. We use an outside service to do this for us based on a job analysis, also done by an outside source. A physical therapist is often trained to do this type of service, including a job analysis that keeps you from being accused of a conflict of interest when you alone do the PCT.

The key here is to have a written description in place incorporated into you job description prior to turning someone down based on physical ability. Keep in mind that the applicant themselves may tell you they are not able to do the job you described, and withdraws themselves from further consideration.

SMace

You said, ">The ADA permits, after making a bona fide offer
>of employment, for you to explain to the
>potential employee the essential functions of
>the job and then ask the if they can do these
>functions with our without reasonable
>accommodation. "

The sentence should read, "">The ADA permits, BEFORE making a bona fide offer
>of employment, for you to explain to the
>potential employee the essential functions of
>the job and then ask the if they can do these
>functions with our without reasonable
>accommodation. "

morrisg

Thank you, for your correction. It's certainly permissible to ask an applicant, after the employer has explained the essential job duties, if they can perform these functions with or without reasonable accommodation. This indeed would be before a bona fide job offer is made.

E Wart

At a former job we also had a "medical questionnaire" that we had employees complete after they were employed. This was used only for the GA Second Injury Trust Fund (for W/C if you had reason to know that someone had or were treated for injury/illness and later they have a w/c injury you could get money back from the trust fund. I have gotten thousands.)
However, the Fund is going by the wayside and I don't know of any other state that has this. It really worked well and encouraged employees to hire employees who might have prior injuries that they might have otherwise turned down because of potential w/c injuries.
E Wart