Legal Question for Interview
joannie
2,294 Posts
OK, braintrust. Is there any legal way to ask an applicant if he is taking any type of medication that would/could prevent him from safely performing the required job duties?
Comments
The best answer I can come up with is the usual interview tactic of providing the list of essential job functions and asking if they can perform those tasks with or without accommodation. Then stare at them, boring holes into their eyes, hoping they'll crack.
Is there a specific incident that is inspiring you to want to ask about medications? That may help.
If you are still unsure about his abilities on the job, then send him out for another medical certification at your expense. If they also agree that this employee can perform the essential duties of the job, then that answers your concerns. However if the employee was on this medication for the last 8 years and now you are having concerns after finding out about it, I would say it's a non-issue. Especially if during that time you have not had any documented performance issues.
The best question I have come up with is "Is there anything that would prevent you from performing the duties listed in the job description in a safe and reasonable manner?" Of course, what applicant in their right mind is going to say "No".
I am vaguely familiar with methadone, in that I know it exists, and that it's used to treat some chemical addictions. Does it have side effects that you should be concerned about?
>should be concerned about?
It is used to treat narcotic additions, specifically, opiate based narcotics. We don't want the liability of a drug addict, even one under going treatment, running around the country at 60 mph in a 40 ton vehicle.
It is also used in pain management to control severe pain in place of using a narcotic. Why would we want someone in the much pain behind the wheel of said 40 ton vehicle?
Aren't recovering addicts covered under ADA?
They aren't in that much pain when they are drugged.
We make it a practice of not accepting a physical from anyone other than our company doctor to prevent the situation above (critical information being omitted). You also exclude the option of questioning the physician by accepting someone else's physical or the chance that it could have been altered....not good.
2nd
The old standard question of "is there anything that would prevent you from fulfilling the job and safety requirements" will only go so far, but I think that is all you legally have to go on. To eliminate someone on methadone that has been prescribed to them, you would have to prove that it has a negative impact on performing the functions of the job. If you ask all employees to produce prescriptions of all the medications they are on, then you could do the same w/ the methadone candidate. This will surely increase the risk of someone challenging an employment decision because it is perceived you were biased based on a particular illness or medication.
If you have a company sponsored physical, and as a part of it you require disclosure of all medications to the physician, you could pursue falsification of records if the employee just happened to exclude it.