Posted By Tyler Mark, Please see the earlier thread on this. The HR department are right to be concerned with this, but that does not mean it cannot be done. I would suggest you call in some proffessional assistance with this to ensure all is legal, above board and handled appropriately. As I commented in the earlier thread, what will you do with the responses, how will they be assessed and by whom? are they competent to do this? etc etc. Just one thought, here is a scenario for your HR dept. You are trying to employ someone as a landscape gardener (purely an example) and once the contract has been signed the person turns out to be allergic to grass (not too uncommon, what then? I hope this helps. Tyler

Posted By Kieran J Duignan Building on Tyler's useful recommendations, may I recommend thatyou conduct an ERGONOMIC risk assessment of the job before preparing a Medical Health questionnaire. The point of this kind of assessment is that it is TASK-CENTRED and thereby can be justified as a necessary precaution for DISABLED persons as well as justifiable in terms of other discrimination legislation.

Posted By Richard L Mark, Here is a true story about an incident that happened to a colleague of mine in a previous employment. My colleague placed an advert in the local paper for a stores person to assist in a busy storeroom. The advert clearly stated that the person applying for the position required a certain amount of physical fitness as the job did involve some manual handling commensurate with general stores work i.e. lifting the odd bag of cement, plaster etc. Several people responded and were interviewed with one person that stood out from the rest as perfect for the role. He was a coloured gentleman with the appropriate attributes for the job and indeed was offered the job, subject to passing a medical. The interviewee had stated that he was fit on a pre-employment questionnaire and fully understood the requirements. However during his medical he informed the occupational health nurse of a recurring back problem that he had had for years. Obviously this meant that this perfect person for the job was no longer suitable and the job offer was withdrawn. On receipt of the letter this person immediately played the discrimination card declaring his rejection was due to the colour of his skin. My colleague was informed of his response and hit back by saying that if any doctor in the land would declare this man fit for this type of work he would reinstate the offer. The moral of the story is check the persons health history as you would check all other details. What line of defence would my colleague have had if he hadn’t checked the health of the person and 6 months down the line this person was off sick or decided to put a claim in. I personally believe that you should ask the question and I don’t believe that any court in the land would disagree with an employer if the person were clearly unsuitable for the position on offer. As a matter of fact and as an equal opportunities employer, all our new employees complete a pre-employment questionnaire for the selection procedure and receive a medical from a fully qualified occupational health nurse before employment. We have never had any problems! Richard

Posted By Ian P Lynch Yeah - try the weed instead!!!