The House of Lords recently added a clause to the Equality Bill that will potentially ban pre-employment health questionnaires.
With less than 4 in 10 recruiters willing to employ people with mental health conditions it is surprising to hear that companies, campaign groups and the HR community are broadly in favour of this amendment.
As with most areas of employment legislation this clause, if it goes through, will not prohibit any form of questions relating to health, more it will require any question to be directly relevant. An example of a fair question would be asking applicants for an electrician’s job whether they are colour blind.
The job offer will need careful drafting if employers are to avoid a fine of £5,000.
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