Equality Act Tutorial 3
Hello, how are you? - Don't ask!
Here we look at how the Equality Act gives new protection for
job applicants with disabilities and for those with a history of
mental illness
What does the Equality Act do to protect job applicants
with a disability?
Simply - the Equality Act makes it unlawful for
employers to ask job applicants health-related questions before
making an offer of employment (there are some limited
exceptions - see below).
Why does it do this?
Although people with disabilities have enjoyed protection from
discrimination for many years, it was felt that many of
these people were excluded from the job market
altogether due to some employers automatically refusing
to shortlist applicants who appear to have medical history
they might see as problematic. This also applied to
people with a history of mental illness, who would often find that
they simply were not even getting over the first hurdle of getting
job interviews.
What sort of things can't I ask?
You should avoid sending out pre-employment medical
questionnaires to job applicants. You should also avoid
asking third parties, such as referees, to provide information
about the candidate's health and absence record if you ask for
references before making a job offer.
In addition, verbal questions asked during a job interview about
an applicant's health, health history and absence record should all
be avoided.
But I need to know an applicant is physically strong
enough to do the job!
The Equality Act does contain some exceptions to the "don't ask"
rule, but as an employer you need to be able to legally justify why
you have asked the question, so it's best to take legal advice
first. Permitted reasons include:
- A genuine, job-related, reason
- to monitor the diversity of job applicants; and
- to establish whether any reasonable adjustments are required to
allow a disabled person to take part in the recruitment
process.
Is there anything I need to do now?
Yes - do the following:
- Review your recruitment processes and check that you are not
routinely sending out medical questionnaires for applicants to
complete before an offer of employment has been made.
- Make any job offer conditional upon receipt of satisfactory
medical information - and send out any medical questionnaire with
the conditional job offer.
- Make sure everyone in your business involved in the recruitment
process is made aware of the changes and know what questions they
can and cannot ask applicants at interview.