Job processing, "Health" related questions. Your rights?

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TeaLeaf

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Topic # 186914 9-Dec-2015 17:55

This is something Ive seen in NZ but not Aus.

They ask "Do you have any health issues which hinder you from preventing you duties in you role" etc etc.

To me thats pretty much saying "Do you have anything we should know about, if so we can move on to the next candidate". Yeah discrimination is illegal but dont tell me it doesnt happen.

How and who let this happen in this country? Every time I come back some bad and new has happened. Next well have a new flag just to take our minds off important issues like tppa, oh wait.

Anyway, lets say you suffer from a minor mental illness like low grade depression or occasional anxiety, or you have a sore back occasionally, but in your opinion it wouldnt hinder you from doing the job, do you have to list these?

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Reply # 1444668 9-Dec-2015 17:57

No as the question asks

" Do you have any health issues which hinder you from preventing you duties in you role" etc etc. "

MikeB4

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Reply # 1444670 9-Dec-2015 18:02

If you are applying for say role as truck driver and have a back condition you should answer advising of it. But if you were applying for a role as say a heldesk analyst you wouldn't. Honesty is important .

Mike
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Handle9

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Reply # 1444673 9-Dec-2015 18:17

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I'm not entirely sure what you are objecting to. The question is job related and reasonable. It doesn't ask if you have an unrelated illness or something that isn't relevant, it asks if you have an illness or disability which stops you performing the role.

If you are a builders labourer having a back injury which prevents you from lifting is a big deal, if you are a data entry type it's less so.

Put it another way, do you feel that employers should have to consider someone who can't perform the role regardless? That seem ludicrous to me.

TeaLeaf

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Reply # 1446697 9-Dec-2015 19:47

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Im not objecting to anything, but if anyone is naive enough to think it cant be used for discrimination, but intent or not, is tropo.

Lets say you are applying for a help desk job, and you put down you suffer a mental illness like anxiety (like 1/4 of the population or more), i think you would have to be pretty crazy to think they arent going to take the next person. which is discrimination.

Sure a lot of decent HR people with half a clue know most people have mental issues of one degree or another, ie type A sociopath which doesnt show up outside the line of bullied ex colleagues. But the large degree of middle management dont have MBAs and usually arent looking at the best person, they are looking for what looks like the best person, they dont have psych degrees.

Just asking, in a court of law, if you suffer say depression, but you dont feel it affects your job, would you have had to list it? I pick that one because I think a lot of people get discriminated unfairly for and it affects the largest group of people.

Usually I just put down I have a third nipple that gets itchy, not sure if thats their right to know about or not but figure I better. :-)

johnr

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Reply # 1446699 9-Dec-2015 19:49

@TeaLeaf stop trying to make a mountain out of nothing

TeaLeaf

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Reply # 1446704 9-Dec-2015 19:59

lol you think workplace discrimination is a mole hill. are you a manager? im trying to figure out the legalities as it seems very ambiguous and open ended to ones own interpretation. of course if you are a landscaper and you bulging discs thats clear cut. but even then if you dont feel your injury will hinder your work, the question is "do you THINK"

like your bike by the way.

MikeB4

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Reply # 1446706 9-Dec-2015 20:06

Maybe you should talk to Department of Labour or a Lawyer if you want the legal position

Mike
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TeaLeaf

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Reply # 1446708 9-Dec-2015 20:13

is that who set it up? i was out of the country many years before this came in obviously.

i mean in a perfect world its a good thing to know if people have disabilities to help them with their job. but pre employment i personally think thats just wishful thinking.

this is how they addressed it in the uk

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/85013/employment-health-questions.pdf

gzt

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Reply # 1446736 9-Dec-2015 20:50

Maybe a quote from that PDF would help. Link posting without context is a pain more when it is a document download.

gzt

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Reply # 1446738 9-Dec-2015 20:56

There are all kinds of hiring practices. Are you applying for a job with the Empire or the Republic?

TeaLeaf

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Reply # 1446740 9-Dec-2015 21:00

thanks for that, i didnt think of it myself rofl.

its not a quote its a complete outline, read it or dont, im just linking it for anyone interested in anti discrimination and how this issue has been addressed in the uk.

as for NZ, employment feels so backwater here compared to Aus. things like having to set up a company to contract. great, did you realise you are then obliged to pay insurance for 7 years to cover your indemnity (your work), i hope you werent a rogue programmer in ya hay days and some bug just cost a compant $20 mill, oops there goes the house. thats the whole point of why in aus as a contractor the agency covers your PL and PI insurance and handles your super annuation (not that we get a free cookie in NZ). of course you can act as a business the same as here but theres an 80/20 rule on income. not too hard to handle if you moon light.

i had a contract here and they wanted me to come into work and the agency hadnt even bothered to renew my contract, like hell, no public liability.

it just feels hodge podge.

gzt

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Reply # 1446741 9-Dec-2015 21:03

Can you explain how this issue has been addressed in the UK? Links to PDF are not great.

muppet

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Reply # 1446742 9-Dec-2015 21:04

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I'm confused.

Which part of: "Do you have any health issues which hinder you from performing your duties in your role"

Makes you think you'd ever have to answer yes to "but in your opinion it wouldn't hinder you from doing the job, do you have to list these?"

Here's a hypothetical situation:

Let's say you're applying for a job posting bizarre forum posts on websites for commercial gain. You also have a bad case of whingeitus, but it doesn't stop you posting on forums, in fact sometime you feel it helps you write your posts. In this case, you wouldn't have to list your case of whingeitus on the form, or disclose it.

If, however, you had no hands, no feet, and happened to be a mute, then you would probably have to write "I have no hands, no feet and I can't speak at all" on the form. Or at least get someone to write it on the form for you.

I hope this clarifies the situation?

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scuwp

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Reply # 1446743 9-Dec-2015 21:09

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It's not discrimination, it's common sense. "Can you do the job?" Seems pretty clear cut to me.

Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, then always be the Batman

surfisup1000

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Reply # 1446746 9-Dec-2015 21:16

TeaLeaf: thanks for that, i didnt think of it myself rofl.

its not a quote its a complete outline, read it or dont, im just linking it for anyone interested in anti discrimination and how this issue has been addressed in the uk.

as for NZ, employment feels so backwater here compared to Aus. things like having to set up a company to contract. great, did you realise you are then obliged to pay insurance for 7 years to cover your indemnity (your work), i hope you werent a rogue programmer in ya hay days and some bug just cost a compant $20 mill, oops there goes the house. thats the whole point of why in aus as a contractor the agency covers your PL and PI insurance and handles your super annuation (not that we get a free cookie in NZ). of course you can act as a business the same as here but theres an 80/20 rule on income. not too hard to handle if you moon light.

i had a contract here and they wanted me to come into work and the agency hadnt even bothered to renew my contract, like hell, no public liability.

it just feels hodge podge.

Do you think the companies in Aus provide that insurance for free? You pay one way or another.

And, if you are a limited liability company you have no personal liability anyway. Sure, they can sue your company but it is probably a service company with no assets.

I've worked in a few different countries and I don't think NZ is hodge podge at all.

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