Medical Leave Question from future employer

I took a medical leave of absence from my school this spring because the stress of teaching multiple grade levels and subjects made it challenging to maintain decent blood sugars. Since then I have been nannying part-time and have had great blood sugars because the stress is at a much more manageable level. I'm working with a few nanny agencies right now to find a full time nanny placement for this next year. Today I got a call from one of them asking me to explain my medical leave and the details surrounding it. Is that even legal? I felt obligated to share the details but after the phone call I felt terrible. I didn't feel like the lady had the right to ask me and then of course she may not even understand what type 1 diabetes really is and come to conclusions that are totally inaccurate. Does anybody know anything about the legal rights of what I have to disclose?

Thanks!

Employment laws in the US can be be a little tricky. The following link is the FAQ for the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) that discusses employment questions…

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/jobapplicant.html

Hope it helps!

ya, i found this in that FAQ…

“The ADA prohibits employers from asking questions that are likely to reveal the existence of a disability before making a job offer”

That kind of says it all. I guess the question then becomes, i you state on an application that you left your last position because of medical leave, does that open the door to their line of question.

I know your previous employer is prohibited from providing any information about why left the position other than saying that you were terminated for cause or resigned your position (without saying why you were terminated or why chose to leave) so maybe leave that out of your application.

She had no right to ask that question. It was medical leave and therefore covered under HIPPA. They aren’t employing you and yet and you haven’t asked them for the leave. Which state do you live in? In California you can’t ask that question.

HIPPA and ADA are Federal laws and apply in all states.

D’oh! You’re right. My bad.

How did they even know of your medical leave? I would of never put that information anywhere. I just put start dates and end dates. everything else i leave out when looking for work. My suggestiom is to leave that type of information out

I live in Cali too and trust me, we have so many law’s regarding employee/employer rights, compounded with a heavy union influence its hard figuring out which ones are State and those that are Federal.

i agree. and unfortunately, while companies are not supposed to discriminate, there is always the human factor and discrimination can be hard to prove and gaps in employment history can be hard explain.

I guess its easier for software developers to explain what the gaps in the resume are. I have a list of projects that I will work on if I ever get booted from a company. I started working on smart phone development and other products that If I ever had the time I would dive into. So maybe in that leave a creative response becomes I started a venture that failed. When my wife left to stay with our son she took nights and weekend classes so when potential employers would ask her about the gaps she said she returned to school. So you get the point right. Just pick something to do and be creative on what that thing was during medical leave.

Generally you do not have to disclose any medical information to a perspective employer. Yet, the employer does not have to hire you either. Yes it was an inappropriate question and the best response is to say, I do not disclose medical information to perspective employers.

However, I suggest you tell them that before you are hired you will discuss the matter fully. Or not. For me, I always tell my employers at the time of hiring. I think it is important to disclose the information to employers. Look if they don’t want to hire you because of diabetes, you don’t want to work there (that is my philosophy others disagree).

Now the issue asked is it is legal to ask. It is not. I do think you need to understand that an employer can always find a way to not hire a person. If an employer asks about an FMLA, they are obviously concerned about reoccurring medical leave. If I were asked the question at that point, I wold likely ask to not be considered, Some tings are not worth the hassle (again my opinion).

rick phillips