Declaring sick leave on application form

LittleVoice

marybelle01 wrote: »

. "I work as a care salesman and I am very good at selling high end cars having met all my tragets for the past two years. I haven't any experience of admin work and I am not very computer literate but I am willing to learn if you teach me. My wife is a teacher and thinks I would be better off working for the council because then I would get better pay and a pension".

Whilst it was a waste of your time in reading it (except to have a story to tell later) and a waste of his time in writing it, did you not have a sneaking regard for his honesty in why he was applying?

marybelle01

LittleVoice wrote: »

Whilst it was a waste of your time in reading it (except to have a story to tell later) and a waste of his time in writing it, did you not have a sneaking regard for his honesty in why he was applying?

Probably - which is why I agreed to take the call (which I didn't have to do) for feedback. But equally maybe I am just a soft touch - I see many such awful applications, but they never ring (they probably post on MSE about how awful employers are!) and if they did, I'd probably start refusing feedback! There's too many of them. This was an extreme, but I do see so many who can't write an application to a job spec (it fascinates me that courses seem to concentrate on the perfect CV and not on this skill) and I couldn't possible help them all.

If you wanted a "group of people" who do this and I feel as awful in saying it as I do when I read their applications - it's people leaving the Armed Forces. I cannot begin to say how many absolutely awful, irrelevant apllications I get from servicemen and women following a proscribed format someone has told them to use, who in doing so stand not a chance of the job.

Savvy_Sue

Skint_yet_Again wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies. Someone else on another forum has just told me its illegal too... but what do you do.... if you want to apply for the job you have to answer?

"I will answer this question if offered the job since the provisions of the xx act yyyy mean that you should not have asked it."

marybelle01 wrote: »

Of course, if someone at interview asks you the question as to why there is a blank, you could politely point out that you are helping them to not break the law by not answering a question that shouldn't be on the form

That might be better.

Judith_W wrote: »

I'd put N/A in that section. This may imply you've had no sick, but at the end of the day, you can interpret that to mean - not relevant (as illegal question)

Also good ... and if you are offered the job and are then legally asked the question, you might want to explain why you left it blank initially!

shortcrust

Very wrong of course, but I suspect many employers would run a mile from an applicant who quoted acts of parliament and refused to answer questions at the interview stage. Personally, I would answer such questions and point out their 'mistake' after the end of the process.

Sponge

I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking if you want an application form to be sifted out immediately, or not get past the interview stage, then by all means point how they're application form/questioning is wrong, indeed, illegal! If you want the job, do what they want/ask.

By all means, bring them up on it afterwards, but only if you don't get the job, or at least have served any probationary period and/or proved your worth. Otherwise you'll be labelled as a trouble maker and soon find yourself applying for jobs again. :wall:

ohreally

Sec 60(1) EA 10 - first sentence.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/60

A person to whom an application for work is made must not ask about the health of the applicant

Skint_yet_Again

ohreally wrote: »

Sec 60(1) EA 10 - first sentence.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/60

But what about:

"...(3)A does not contravene a relevant disability provision merely by asking about B's health; but A's conduct in reliance on information given in response may be a contravention of a relevant disability provision..."

Does this mean they are allowed to ask but if they do ask and use this to decide who gets the job they might contravene the Equality Act ?

Wyndham

Last year I was diagnosed with an eye condition that I will have for the rest of my life. However, it took some time to diagnose, and treatments such as antibiotics offered me temporary relief, but then I was sick again, so I had 10 days off over about 2 months in 3 separate instances. If you hear the figures, it looks really bad. If I call my lifelong condition that I'm having treatment for a disability, then it's discrimination.

This sort of situation is why the question is now illegal. When I got a new job I declared everything to Occupational Health, and they were very supportive because they have the knowledge to understand a situation like mine in a way that your average interviewer really doesn't.

(and on day 1 of the job, I told my manager about it, as I sometimes still have bad days....)

SueC_2

LittleVoice wrote: »

Don't answer the question on the form.

Contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission to report what the employer is doing.

They have helpline numbers for Wales, Scotland and England - see www.equalityhumanrights.com

Depends what you want to achieve really.

If you want to feel righteous and cause fuss and aggravation for the employer (who are quite possibly guilty of nothing more than failing to update their application form on a regular basis). Then yes, take the advice above.

If, on the other hand, you want to be in with a chance of getting the job (and then dealing with the issue of the outdated application form in a sensitive manner once on the inside of the organisation). Then the route above is probably not the one to choose.

anamenottaken

SueC wrote: »

Depends what you want to achieve really.

If you want to feel righteous and cause fuss and aggravation for the employer (who are quite possibly guilty of nothing more than failing to update their application form on a regular basis). Then yes, take the advice above.

If, on the other hand, you want to be in with a chance of getting the job (and then dealing with the issue of the outdated application form in a sensitive manner once on the inside of the organisation). Then the route above is probably not the one to choose.

Why would reporting the offence to the EHRC remove the chance of getting the job?