Declaring existing illness to a new employer - do I have to?

[HopingForTheBest25]

Hi,
If a person has been offered a job and then receives a medical questionnaire from the new employer prior to starting work, does the new employee legally have to fill in the form?
I understand that if a person has a disability or needs reasonable adjustments made at work, then it's beneficial for people in that position but if you think it might prejudice the future employer (and it won't impact the employee's ability to do the job no adjustments need to be made), then can a person just decline to complete the form?
Would there be ramifications for doing this?

many thanks

it is not in any way normal and most very likely to be deemed unlawful if people weren’t so willing to be treated as doormats/mugs in the name of money and stand up to it.

it is reminiscent to be honest of the equally repellent practice that came to light recently of al Fayed instructing invasive examinations on young women to check for STIs.

goodness, that must have been some job!

So what happens if you refuse, what do they do if you consent and then find an abnormal result, do you still get the job, do they pay for any private screening, treatment and follow ups. What if you have had a history of cervical cancer, do they discriminate against that too.

It’s completely normal for partner hires. As for “pursuit of money”, well yes, I’m a lawyer and I get paid for working as one. I guess I could choose to remain an employee non-partner, and not have to have medicals, but if I want to progress in my career and be an equity partner, I need to have the medical. I’m totally fine with that. In fact I’m grateful to have a £1000 medical provided because in the event that it did identify any sign of an illness I didn’t know I had, I’d be better off knowing about it sooner rather than later.

Are you able to answer my question

What the private healthcare will cover will vary from firm to firm depending on the policy. One of my friends at a different firm has had 3 years of treatment for cancer covered fully privately at the hospital which treated Kate Middleton and Prince Charles.

What firms do if a medical for partner recruitment purposes identifies something I suppose would depend on the candidate. The doctor can’t tell the firm what is wrong (if anything is), only that there is something which requires further investigation. It would then be between the candidate and the firm as to how much information the candidate wanted to give.

I was involved in a recruitment process for a lateral partner hire at my old firm, where we offered the person the job and she then declined it as she had cancer for which she was receiving private treatment under the health insurance of her current firm, and if she changed jobs she worked out that she’d have to declare that to new insurers and would lose the cover. So she was stuck where she was.

Everyone has to do what’s right for them in whatever their circumstances are.

If a potential new hire was found to have abnormal cells and disclosed this at the interview would they still,be offered the job. What if the potential new hire refuses to have a smear. Being treated at the London Clinic is irrelevant, didn't they investigate staff members attempting to access royal,medical records?

I’ve just checked back through the quote history and there is no question in any of your comments to me, though I am happy to answer a question if you have one.

Thanks. What happens if a new hire refuses a smear? Are they still,offered the job. What happens if they consent but the smear is abnormal and the new hire declares this at interview, , are they still offered the job with follow up scans, sickleave and treatment.

I think I answered this to the best of my ability in my post at 14:45. However, whilst I’m not in HR I think the answer to this question would depend entirely upon (a) what the condition was and (b) how much the candidate was willing to share with the firm. The doctor’s report to firm can only say either “all fine” or “some issues require follow up tests”. It’s down to the candidate to decide whether they’re willing to share any detail of the report THEY get (which obviously does flag all of the findings).

If it were me, and the report said e.g. irregular smear result, I’d share that with the firm and tell them I was getting follow up tests through GP. I don’t know what the firm would do - suspect it would depend on how urgent the need for the hire was and how “bad” the issue might be. If non-urgent they might say “do you want to take some time to deal with that and come back to us”. If urgent and the issue appeared non-serious then they would probably just proceed. If it was “you’ve got a serious heart problem” then I would say to the firm that I wasn’t in a position to proceed, and wouldn’t give details. And I’d be fine with that because my health is more important than any job.

I asked the doctor what happens if I refused the smear and she said “I’d have to record in my report that you declined this”. I don’t know what my firm would have done but I’d imagine this would be a red flag because who wouldn’t want a smear test? I had no cause for concern so even though I was within my 3 year period for the NHS smears, I just had it done.

Did you ask what do they do if the smear is abnormal. There are plenty of women who may not want a potential employer to demand a smear and their even thinking this is a red flag is a real,red flag for me.

The company may refer you to occupational health, where you can give more context to your depression and they can then write a report to recommend any adjustments,.or not.
If they withdrew the offer on the basis of your depression it would be discrimination.

If the smear was abnormal the doctor’s report would tell me that, and the firm would be told simply that the medical identified something requiring further investigation. It would be up to me whether or not I was willing to tell the firm what that was, or the specifics of any further investigation.

"Who wouldn't want a smear test?'
me.

Or those who are pregnant, have a history of sexual abuse, trauma, have regular NHS checks, are undergoing or had recent procedures or treatment, or simply choose not to do.

You’d be free to decline it.

I have my smear tests through the NHS when they are due.

The fact that am employer think this is OK to ask a prospective employee to take this test is just bizarre to me. I also find the passive aggressive "if you decline I will have to record it" really unpleasant.

I was the victim of sexual assault and that means smear tests are really stressful for me. My GP practice is aware of this fact but there is no way I would want to be forced into disclosing this fact through employment health checks...

No one forced me. I was within the 3 year period on my NHS ones so I didn’t need a new smear but I had no issue with having one. I think it perfectly reasonable for the partnership I was entering into to want to know if I may have any serious health issues before I joined. It’s a major financial commitment (both ways).

Is there a way to fill it in saying “I have x condition, it is being managed and will not affect my work / require time off” ?