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Equality Act 2010
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It is common practice for employers to seek information about the health of prospective employees by issuing job applicants with a ‘pre-employment health questionnaire’ asking for details of susceptibilities or previous illness or injury. There can be very good reasons for doing so. Employers will of course be conscious of their duties and responsibilities both at common law and under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 which requires employers to assess the risk to health, undertake appropriate health surveillance and take into account employees’ capabilities. |
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| www.qbeeurope.com/risk-management/qbe-issues.asp |
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With the new Equality Act coming into force in October, QBE has published a forum document for businesses discussing some of the issues the new law raises.
The Act replaces most of the existing law on workplace discrimination, and it adds important new duties for employers in the field of worker risk management.
One area that is particularly affected is the practice of employers issuing "pre-employment health questionnaires" to job applicants.
Questioning a candidate about their health prior to a job offer being made is now illegal – apart from when certain conditions are met.
Two of the most important of these are bound to be the notion of capabilities necessary for fulfilling functions that are "intrinsic to the job" and exactly what kind of "reasonable adjustments" employers should be expected to make.
As QBE's paper concludes, it is likely to be more than a year before interpretation of the Equality Act settles down, as cases come before Employment Tribunals.
In the meantime, however, risk management professionals are advised to review their companies' procedures to ensure that employment and recruitment practices do not fall foul of the new discrimination rules. 