Do you have to tell new employer about mental health issues from the past?

[Ilovedogs389]

My husband has been offered a job that's too good to turn down financially. He has climbed the career ladder over the past 15 years and has worked extremely hard to get to where he is , and he really deserves this opportunity.
The problem is during the past 12 months he has suffered from psychotic depression triggered by 3 traumatic events back to back, which has now started to move towards bipolar . We were told this would probably happen by the psychiatrist. Husband is on medication and is now pretty much back to normal mental health wise. He is back working (from home) and our daily life is how it once was.
But he has had a lot of time off . He had 6 months off during his worst time last year, them a 3 month phased return which he is still on now. He is not back to full workload although he could do, his work have been so good to him and have taken it very slowly. His workplace know the full truth about what happened.
This new job offer has come at a really bad time because of this but he wants to go for it. Any advice?
Do they need to know about what has happened? Will they want to know about absence etc?

I've got bipolar. When I joined a new company a while ago I was sent a form to fill out and had to list any health conditions. I agonised about being truthful for ages but in the end I put it down. So glad I did as three years later I had a spectacular breakdown when working overseas for them and they were obliged to support me through it. Turns out no one read the form as they were quite surprised when they referred back to it.

I say make a disclosure. It is lying if you don't. It should be confidential anyway and if your DH is discriminated against because of it then he has a case.

His current diagnosis at the moment is psychotic depression.

Tough. It's recent enough diagnosed and serious if he has an episode

Not mentioning it is lying by omission I think.

I'd be thinking twice about it but think ultimately it should disclosed.

At my company we couldn't and wouldn't discriminate and we've got huge MH support networks. His new company might have the same ?

He of course doesn't want to be judged because once you hear the word psychosis you receive judgment from people. Even his mental health nurse advised him not to tell his current employer everything but he did.
We will speak to his early intervention team about it and see what they advise. I'm thinking tell them but not all of it

Check out the disabilities discrimination act.

I suppose it depends on the job but a lot of companies have forms where they ask if you have an illness that impairs your ability to do the job. If you don't, you don't have to declare it.

Some companies ask you to fill out forms about what medication you are taking.

Hi, I have schizoaffective disorder (it's been described as psychosis like in schizophrenia, with the mood elements of bipolar). I've always been upfront about this with employers and they've generally asked me to have a consultation with occupational health. Once they've had a conversation with me and clarified the situation (and discussed any reasonable adjustments I may need), the employer has been fine about it. Sending you and your husband my best wishes.