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Author
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Topic: ADA
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kblint
Member Posts: 88
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted May 03, 2005 05:48 PM
  
I hire Security Officers. In my interview I say (to every candidate) "The Security officer position requires walking for 8 hours stair climbing and ladder climbing. Do you have any physical limitations/asthma or anything else that would prevent you from performing these duties?Is this a legal question to ask?
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Gene Labovitz
HR Guru Posts: 3524
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted May 03, 2005 05:52 PM
Certainly, you may have the candidate perform a job-related test, such as demonstrating that he or she can lift 40 pounds (many employers customarily have perofrmance examinations as part of the selection process -- even to the extnet of having a staff analyst candidate, for example, write a sample memorandum. But remember, if the employee says that he or she will need reasonable accommdation because of a disability, you would then have to take that answer into account and if the employee is otherwise qualified for the job and would be selected if it were not for the need for reasonable accommodation, then you would have to select the candidate (in short, you may not use the need for reasonable accommodation as a basis to reject an otherwise qualified candidate). You could ask the candidate who says an accommdaotin is needed to identify one or descirbe how he or she would perform the job with an accommodation (by the way, the one the candidate mentions may not in fact be the one that is eventually used in the job).
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Elle
HR Guru Posts: 6548
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted May 04, 2005 10:40 AM
I would refrain from pointing out certain medical conditions that you are "screening for". There are asthmatics who are perfectly capable of doing what you describe, so just knowing that they have asthma, doesn't mean that they can't do the job. If you go that route, you will truly have an uphill battle should you not chose someone who happens to be asthmatic. That is what ADA was implemented to eliminate.
It is much better to represent the demands of the job and ask if there is any reason they would not be able to perform them, or for confirmation that they can.
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Mnementh
HR Guru Posts: 2651
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted May 04, 2005 12:53 PM
AT my last job, all interviewees were shown a copy of the job description and asked to sign off that they could perform the functions of the job with or without accomodation. WHile our field reps and service reps had the heavy lifting to do, even my job description stated a need to be able to lift 25 lbs (a case of paper), sit or stand for long periods of time, walk 50 yds non-stop (one end of the building to the other), and communicate clearly in written and verbal form.
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pattytx
HR Guru Posts: 1005
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted May 04, 2005 01:21 PM
And how is that "communicate clearly" thing going for you? 
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kblint
Member Posts: 88
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted May 04, 2005 01:49 PM
Hey, I'd rather stand at my desk then sit, any way I can request a 4 foot high desk, and claim that I need it so I don't get the medical condition "desk job butt???"
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Mnementh
HR Guru Posts: 2651
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted May 04, 2005 03:07 PM
Well Pattytx, since I'm in HR, it doesn't matter if I can communicate clearly or not - no one listens, and when they do, they don't hear the words I'm actually saying, but the ones they want to hear.
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