Health and Physical Abilities
Health and abilities of your potential employees may be important, but it’s important
that you avoid assumptions and discrimination.
Illegal: “Do you smoke or drink?”
As a generalisation, most employers will want to avoid hiring someone who has a drinking
problem or whom will take multiple smoke breaks throughout the day – it’s even a
concern for insurance. You can find out if they’ve had trouble with health policies
in the past by asking a question such as “Have you been disciplined previously for
violating company policies forbidding the use of alcohol or tobacco products?” instead
of asking a direct question.
Illegal: “Do you take drugs?”
This question provides a simple confusion of terms where your interviewee may think
you’re asking about prescription drugs – which itself is a question that is off-limits.
Make sure that you specify that you want to specifically know about illegal drug
use instead by asking “Do you use illegal drugs?”
Illegal: “How tall are you?” or “How much do you weigh?”
Although these are not essential requirements to a sales role, these personal questions
must not be asked under any circumstances. If it necessary that you find out how
tall or how much they weigh (for whatever reason that may be) its best to ask them
a question upon the basis of “Are you able to reach items that are on a shelf that
is five feet tall?” or “Are you able to lift a box weighing up to 40 pounds?”
Illegal: “How many sick days did you take last year?”
Of course no one wants to employee a candidate who takes a day of here and there
at their own leisure but even the most dedicated of dedicated workers get sick every
now and then. Take a look at missed days as a whole to measure the candidate’s commitment
by asking a question such as “How many days of work did you miss last year?”
Illegal: “Do you have any disabilities?”
Physical or mental abilities can affect a candidate’s ability to do a job but it’s
absolutely critical that you avoid asking them about them. Instead, you should ask
the applicant if they can handle what is required for example “Are you able to perform
the specific duties of this position?”
Illegal: “Have you had any recent or past illnesses or operations?”
Illness isn’t something that most people can help however it’s understandable that
gauging commitment is important. As an alternative you can ask “Are you able to perform
the essential functions of this job with or without reasonable accommodations?”
For further information on disability discrimination download this following advice
sheet from our client library.
