Lied about medical conditions on my employment form

lisyloo

motorguy wrote: »

People with protected characteristics can still be dismissed - its not a get out of jail free card.

They wouldnt be dismissing you for your medical illness, they would be dismissing you for lying to them, which they could be entitled to do.

Also the law only means you can't be discriminated against, it doesn't mean you can't be dismissed for scoring the lowest on merit and against most subjective criteria, theses things are hard to dispute.


Many of the criteria I've had like communication, teamworking are almost impossible to dipsute someones subjective opinion espceially as you don't have the right to access the score of others.


In practice it would be difficult for you to prove.


Anyway how could you claim they dismissed you on account of a disability that they didn't even know about !!!!
They have it in black and white (from you) that you don't have a disability.

Marcon

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

This seems strange... Surely you can't be required to disclose all medical conditions for most jobs? Obviously where it is relevant, sure - but otherwise it should be optional?

Any job can ask you to fill in a health questionnaire, not least to check for certain conditions which the employer's insurers might require to be declared (e.g. for death in service life cover policies).

Nobody has to complete the questionnaire - but the employer doesn't have to employ you if you don't, of course.

Filo25

All you can do now is be careful to manage your conditions as well as possible (which I am sure is what you would be doing anyway!) so that they don't noticeably impact on your job performance, as long as that happens this will never be an issue.

Sharon87

I think some people are being harsh on the OP. Yes they didn't disclose medical issues on the form, but think of the reason why they didn't, perhaps their medical conditions are the reason they got anxious about filling it out. I know someone with Bi-Polar in my industry and she never discloses it to employers unless she thinks she needs to because it could put employers off. I work in an industry where we do contract work (so from 1 week to many months).

OP - if you tell your employer you have the medical conditions then they could accommodate you when they interfere with your work. I have SAD in the winter time, well I believe so, I've not been diagnosed by a doctor, but the blue SAD light and taking vitamin D really helps! But I told my employer last winter so they know what my bright blue light was for and if I felt bad then they knew why.

If you want to tell them it's up to you, but any decent employer should understand, if they don't, then they probably won't be a good employer to support your illnesses.

motorguy

Sharon87 wrote: »

I think some people are being harsh on the OP. Yes they didn't disclose medical issues on the form, but think of the reason why they didn't, perhaps their medical conditions are the reason they got anxious about filling it out.

As per my original post, i can undertand why the O/P did it and also how i'd personally handle it (just keep working on and say nothing), however i think what people are taking exception to is the O/Ps attitude that if they make it to 2 years employment then they cant be sacked because they have then a protected characteristic. This is wrong and paints a very different picture of the O/P's motivations

Rosemary7391

Comms69 wrote: »

Isnt it up to the employer, not employee, to decide whats relevant?

Sure - but they can do that by asking after the specific conditions they're concerned about, no? Not by asking for all conditions. (Admittedly I'm not sure what format the OP's form took - when we hire for church we just ask something like "Do you have any condition that may impact your ability to do this job?" and I think OP would've been fine saying no provided all the things mentioned were under control at the time.).

Me2you

If I didnt lie the result would be the same.

They offered me the job and would have to make responsible adjustments. As I asked for no adjustments, there is no issue.

sangie595

Sharon87 wrote: »

I think some people are being harsh on the OP. Yes they didn't disclose medical issues on the form, but think of the reason why they didn't, perhaps their medical conditions are the reason they got anxious about filling it out. I know someone with Bi-Polar in my industry and she never discloses it to employers unless she thinks she needs to because it could put employers off. I work in an industry where we do contract work (so from 1 week to many months).

OP - if you tell your employer you have the medical conditions then they could accommodate you when they interfere with your work. I have SAD in the winter time, well I believe so, I've not been diagnosed by a doctor, but the blue SAD light and taking vitamin D really helps! But I told my employer last winter so they know what my bright blue light was for and if I felt bad then they knew why.

If you want to tell them it's up to you, but any decent employer should understand, if they don't, then they probably won't be a good employer to support your illnesses.

I think you need to reread the posts. Nobody is being harsh. It doesn't actually matter why, or what, the OP lied to the employer about. They lied. And there are potentially adverse outcomes when lying to an employer when they find out the truth, as they inevitably do. It might be lying about your health, the reason you left an employer, or anything else. Lying is not a good way to start a relationship, and when and if the employer finds out, the focus is not on what the truth was, but the very fact of lying. To tell the OP that is not harsh, it's a fact.

Some employers might not wish to employ people with a disability, but given the right approach to the truth, many will. But what most will want to do is understand what they are taking on so that they can support the employee. They can't support what they don't know about.

But past that, what really p****es me off is people whose approach is "let's lie to the employer, let's not trust them, let's not care about their position in any of this, because all I have to do is get past the first two years or scream discrimination and they won't dare dismiss me". Why does it annoy me! Because so very often it's the people who can "pass" who use and abuse the disability card to excuse anything they want excusing, and that reflects on every other disabled person who is truthful or can't hide their disability. The reason some employers are so cautious about employing people with disabilities is because of the exact attitude the OP is demonstrating. Many people with disabilities work, do responsible and complex work, and are net contributors to society. Many more could be the same. Why should all of them suffer for a minority who think it's best to lie and hide the truth (and if you've been holding down work and not been a problem, what's to lie about anyway?), who think they're an entitled minority who can't be sacked, and who flaunt their disability as a crutch to excuse anything they want? Yep, as a disabled person who works, that really annoys me!

sangie595

Me2you wrote: »

If I didnt lie the result would be the same.

They offered me the job and would have to make responsible adjustments. As I asked for no adjustments, there is no issue.

It isn't up to you to decide. When you are the employer, then it will be up to you. And it has nothing to do with reasonable adjustments that you may not need now - there are many reasons why those questions are asked and you have a responsibility to tell the truth. You don't seem to understand. The issue is now nothing to do with your health and everything to do with the fact you lied.

You are simply making excuses now for lying. You aren't likely to find anyone whose going to tell you that lying is the right thing to do, and you've done it and clearly have never had any intention of undoing it. So why are you asking at all? This is now an "on your head be it" so any advice here is redundant - you never intended doing anything other than what you have already done.

Me2you

Employer - here’s a job and btw fill out this medical form. It wasn’t discussed at the interview or application stage you would need to fill it out, but here you go.

Me - ok. I’ll going to lie because I don’t need unqualified people to know about my medical conditions that generally don’t affect my work and I’ve been given the job anyway. I don’t know who this form is seen by and as my conditions fluctuate I’ll “cross that bridge when we get to it”.

My thoughts....
Why should I give my employer any chance to have a negative view about myself, based on their lack of knowledge about my medical conditions? If they had an occupational therapist or doctor, I wouldn’t have lied. I’m not asking them to give me anything. If I come into work they are going to be wondering “is she bipolar today, she’s going to go psyco, I must treat her kindly”.