As the Paralympics draws to a close, highlighting the amazing achievements of people with varying forms of disability, it is a good time to note what questions an employer may or may not ask a potential employee at interview.
Under Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010, employers are prevented from asking candidates questions about their health before a job offer is made, which means that care must be taken about questions they ask throughout the recruitment process. And asking a candidate whether he or she suffers from any form of disability is deemed to be a question about their health.
Even if an applicant discloses information about their health voluntarily, the employer must be careful not to respond in too much detail, unless the question revolves around whether the applicant would be capable of carrying out a function that is intrinsic to the work concerned.
Section 60 of the Act allows for this but within a narrow framework, so while it would be acceptable to enquire whether a candidate’s eyesight would be under pressure with doing a great deal of reading as part of their job, for example, it would not be acceptable to ask them general questions abut their state of health.
However, it is still relevant for an employer to ask these questions after the offer, and so the practice of job offers being conditional on references and health assessments continues.
If questions have been asked about health at an interview and the person does not get the job, a court or tribunal would be expected to look very carefully at the employer’s actions, whilst the employer would be required to prove that the decision not to appoint was appropriate, and not linked to the applicant’s disability.