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illegal job questions

thelawnet
Posts: 2,584 Forumite


My wife is filling out an application for a retail position, some of the questions:
do you have any disability, condition or allergy for which any special arrangement will need to be made?
do you have any regular/recurring ailments which may incur you not being fit for work at any time?
do you have young children/dependant relatives who may also cause problems affecting your availability for work?
have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence, including spent convictions? yes/no
Are these illegal questions?
(Below the criminal offence question it adds, somewhat obscurely, that you may omit to answer the question due to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, but it seems to me that omitting to answer the question is likely to cause aspersions to be cast)
do you have any disability, condition or allergy for which any special arrangement will need to be made?
do you have any regular/recurring ailments which may incur you not being fit for work at any time?
do you have young children/dependant relatives who may also cause problems affecting your availability for work?
have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence, including spent convictions? yes/no
Are these illegal questions?
(Below the criminal offence question it adds, somewhat obscurely, that you may omit to answer the question due to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, but it seems to me that omitting to answer the question is likely to cause aspersions to be cast)
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Comments
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They need to know if they will have to make provision for anyone who has a disability, ramps, lifts etc
They can also ask you to disclose any unspent convictions, not sure about unspent ones. But a CRB check would soon sort that out.
The recurring ailments and dependants sound dodgy though. Having children should not disqualify you from employment provided you have the childcare covered to allow you to work the set hours being asked. And provided any ailments you don't prevent you from working contracted hours.0 -
Do you have young children/dependant relatives who may also cause problems affecting your availability for work?
They can't ask the one above or this one
Do you have any regular/recurring ailments which may incur you not being fit for work at any time?
I tend to leave questions like these blank. They are unlawful.~*~ If you don't need it, it isn't a bargain ~*~0 -
They are not supposed to ask health related questions prior to offering you the job, its against the law.0
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Do you have young children/dependant relatives who may also cause problems affecting your availability for work?
They can't ask the one above
Oh yes they can - as long as they ask everyone (male and female) they aren't breaking any laws.I was born too late, into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair0 -
iamana1ias wrote: »Oh yes they can - as long as they ask everyone (male and female) they aren't breaking any laws.
I better edit this then0 -
Ihatecameron wrote: »The law has changed, they are not allowed to ask any health related questions prior to offering you the job, otherwise you can sue them. It discriminates against people who have disabilities and goes against governments plans to get a million people off the sick and back to work.
Erm, read my post again. I was responding to the childcare question, not the health oneI was born too late, into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair0 -
And asking about convictions that are spent is a waste of time as you do not have to disclose that information.
Actually I would look into reporting those sods for asking questions like that, bloody cheek or what.0 -
iamana1ias wrote: »Oh yes they can - as long as they ask everyone (male and female) they aren't breaking any laws.
Not sure about that. By that logic if you ask both men and women if they are planning to get pregnant it would be equal. Clearly it's not.0 -
It was used by some poor employers to get around the law on asking unlawful questions. However, if it is likely to impact on one group more than another it is an unlawful question as per the example of asking males if they are pregnant when clearly it would not be possible.0
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Not sure about that. By that logic if you ask both men and women if they are planning to get pregnant it would be equal. Clearly it's not.
It's splitting hairs but in principle I believe it's correct (if stupid). They can ask the question as long as they ask both male and female candidates the same question. If however they based their decision on the response then that would be discriminatory.
Of course that raises the issue of why they would ask it in the first place............
Some years ago I was being interviewed for an HR Manager position for a large well known hotel chain. The interviewer asked me whether I was married, whether my wife worked and how many cars we had. When I replied "one" he said - and I quote verbatum - "well how's the little woman going to get to work if you get this job?" At that point I decided that the job was definitely not for me!“This isn't life in the fast lane, it's life in the oncoming traffic.” - Terry PratchettDebt Target - £0 Target Date - January 2015eo 07/13 - £23,080 eo 08/13 - £21,084 eo 09/13 - £20,347 eo 10/13 - £19,5550
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