Declaring past ill health on application form

Thriftylady

I have a job application form to fill in, and it asks for details of any illnesses (whether they resulted in absence from work or not) over the past two years. I have missed several months of work, but it was pregnancy related, I had serious complications. Obviously I'll have to declare it, but is an employer allowed to use this as part of the selection process? After all, I'm not pregnant now and therefore it no longer applies....

astonsmummy

Why do you need to put it at all if it was pregnancy related?

cats_whiskers

Hi
Recently I have had to declare a recent illness (which led to a prolonged period of sickness absence) on job applications however, I always concluded that I was now fully recovered. Usually it was mentioned at interviews and this gave me the chance to explain and again state that I was fully recovered.

It is probably always best to declare and explain any prolonged sickness absence especially if you have put your previous employer as a referee. If you have not declared it and they write for a reference, especially if they are doing this prior to interview, they usually always want to know about number of days sickness. If you have not been honest about this they may wonder what else you are hiding.

Good Luck
Cats

CFC

An employer can take it into consideration, because someone with a poor sick record is likely to be off again. They also need to know if there are any sickness related benefits as part of the package. However, employers don't have a problem with genuine sickness as part of an underlying health issue, it's the 1 day off a month with a cold that they don't like. They would also be fools to take into account any absence that is related to pregnancy or a disability, they'd be asking for a lawsuit.

ohreally

They appear not to be asking for all absences to be disclosed but illness absence,pregnancy is not an illness so why declare it?

Penny-Pincher!!

Are the illnesses ongoing?

I know you state they were pregnancy related, but if these problems are still occuring then it is relevant. When was the last time you were ill with this illness etc? Some pregnancy related illnesses/problems can cause lifelong problems.

PP
xx

Thriftylady

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Are the illnesses ongoing?

I know you state they were pregnancy related, but if these problems are still occuring then it is relevant. When was the last time you were ill with this illness etc? Some pregnancy related illnesses/problems can cause lifelong problems.

PP
xx

well, yes and no !! yes, in that I'm still suffering, and no in that I'm having surgery soon and if I was lucky enough to be offered this job it would all be behind me by the time I would be commencing employment. I will be declaring it on the form, as I believe in being honest, but it just grates a bit with me to have to disclose something so personal to complete strangers. I do understand where employers are coming from, wanting to employ reliable staff. My current employer don't differentiate between genuine illness and non-genuine, they treat staff with cancer exactly the same as they treat staff who ring in sick with hangovers, which is one of the reasons I really want to change jobs. I suppose its because of their attitude that as soon as I see this on an application form I just start to panic....

squashy

Both my previous (public sector) employers have requested this, in fact they even enclosed a questionnaire to answer yes or no to various illness types! I felt I couldn't lie in case there was a problem in the future (a bit like lying on your insurance!)

The first time, I put minimum info but the HR dept phoned me up to ask how long for, how long ago etc. The second time I put it all on. However I'm pretty sure this was post-interview?