Can an employer give you a hard time about your diabetes?

Answer 1

No of course they can't..that's discrimination. Depending on how confident you are you should approach them and just let them know that they should not be doing it. Your employer might see reason and lay off. Also, They can't fire you for standing up for your rights as thats also discrimination but they can make your workplace uncomfortable..If this happens i would be looking for another job. But i do not know your situation at all..good luck!

Answer 2

NO...

Your employer should never discriminate against you because of your medical condition. As long as your condition is not affecting your work habits, etc. , then he or she should not single you out because you are diabetic.

If you are having problems at work with your employer because you are diabetic, you might want to consider seeking legal action. There are anti-discrimination laws in place to protect workers from this type of thing. If you are not willing to take this much action in your case, then take some time to reconsider your work appointment. You should never work in an environment that makes you feel uncomfortable in anyway. It may be that you should just consider your options. There are other jobs out there if you are willing to make a change.

Good luck and best wishes...

Answer 3

Laws vary from place to place (generally by state if you live in the US). If you live in a right-to-work state, it is possible that you are not protected. I would suggest visiting a library and checking the laws for your area.

Answer 4

No, but they don't like it when you take time off for blood tests and hospital appointments.
They can make life difficult.

Answer 5

They shouldn't it's against the law, it's discrimination!

Answer 6

its discrimination they are not allowed to, and tho some people do

Answer 7

no

Answer 8

What Are Legal and Illegal Questions?

It's important to plan what you are going to say and what you are not going to mention in a job interview. Knowing which questions an employer may not ask helps you think about your answers. Remember to ask yourself: "Is this information relevant to how I will be able to perform the job?"

Employers may not ask about your physical condition or disability. This includes any question about your general health, use of sick leave or Workers' Compensation benefits or general inquiry into a physical disability or handicap. The employer may show you a job description and ask if you can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without accommodation. If you need accommodations, the employer may not decline to hire you on that basis, unless the accommodation causes the employer undue hardship. Many accommodations involve no financial outlay, such as changes in schedules, or minimal expenditures, making the claim of hardship unsustainable.

Employers also must not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, sex, marital status or family, as well as other criteria. State and local laws may provide more protection. For more details about employment discrimination, contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. See the end of this article for the list of the state agency in each state which protect your rights.

What the ADA Says

The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in all employment practices. It is necessary to understand several important ADA definitions to know who is protected by the law and what constitutes illegal discrimination:

Individual with a Disability

An individual with a disability under the ADA is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment. Major life activities are activities that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty such as walking, breathing, seeing, hearing, speaking, learning, and working.

Qualified Individual with a Disability

A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is someone who satisfies skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the position held or desired, and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of that position.

Reasonable Accommodation

Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited to, making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities; job restructuring; modification of work schedules; providing additional unpaid leave; reassignment to a vacant position; acquiring or modifying equipment or devices; adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies; and providing qualified readers or interpreters. Reasonable accommodation may be necessary to apply for a job, to perform job functions, or to enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment that are enjoyed by people without disabilities. An employer is not required to lower production standards to make an accommodation. An employer generally is not obligated to provide personal use items such as eyeglasses or hearing aids.

Undue Hardship

An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to a qualified individual with a disability unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business. Undue hardship means an action that requires significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to factors such as a business' size, financial resources, and the nature and structure of its operation.

Prohibited Inquiries and Examinations

Before making an offer of employment, an employer may not ask job applicants about the existence, nature, or severity of a disability. Applicants may be asked about their ability to perform job functions. A job offer may be conditioned on the results of a medical examination, but only if the examination is required for all entering employees in the same job category. Medical examinations of employees must be job-related and consistent with business necessity.

Drug and Alcohol Use

Employees and applicants currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs are not protected by the ADA when an employer acts on the basis of such use. Tests for illegal use of drugs are not considered medical examinations and, therefore, are not subject to the ADA's restrictions on medical examinations. Employers may hold individuals who are illegally using drugs and individuals with alcoholism to the same standards of performance as other employees.

Before the Job Offer

Before the job offer, employers may not ask, directly or indirectly, about the existence of a disability, the impact of a disability or the cause or duration of a disability.

They should ask about whether the job applicant has the skills and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job. No questions about the need for or type of accommodations should be asked by the employer until the employer interviewer knows that the applicant has the skills to perform the job in question.

As an employee, you should ask for accommodations when you are able to see the actual working conditions. This is best done after the job offer, once you have started work.

After the Job Offer

Employers may require applicants for jobs or employees returning after an injury to have a medical exam. The medical exam must be job-related, not a general exam, and must be required of all applicants or returning employees. Employers cannot ask only applicants whose disabilities are obvious to undergo a medical exam.

What Should You Say?

On an Application

If the illegal question is on an employment application, you can leave it blank or write NA (for Not Applicable). You may answer it if you want. The information is yours and it is legal for you to disclose it, but I do not recommend that you give employers information to which they are not entitled. You put the employer into an awkward situation of knowing something s/he is not supposed to know. You also do not know what the response will be to the information, even if you feel comfortable talking about yourself.

You may be concerned that an employer who sees a blank or NA on an application, even if the question is illegal, will not ask you to interview. This may occur, but you cannot control the behaviors of other people and you probably don’t want to work for an employer who responds in that manner.

In an Interview

If you are asked an illegal question in an interview, you have several options of how to answer. I recommend the first one (in BOLD).

1. ANSWER THE QUESTION THEY SHOULD HAVE ASKED

Presume the question was worded poorly but that the employer has good motives. Try to understand the unstated concern under the question, then answer the question as it should have been asked:

You asked how my health is. I expect you want to know if I can be here reliably. I haven't missed a day of work in years, with the exception of the flu I had a few years ago. I even came in after the earthquake to make sure everything was ok.

—or—

My health is under good control. I'm sure you want someone who can be punctual and consistent. On my last job, I was late only twice in five years, and I rarely used all my leave time. It's important to me to be known as reliable and I'll make sure you can count on me to be here.

—or—

I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking. I've been so active lately, with being at the agency twice a week, exercise and classes, I have no doubt I'll be able to handle the job here. It'll probably be easier than my current schedule because I'll be in the same place every day.

2. ANSWER WITH THE STARE

You can sit quietly with a pleasant expression on your face and say nothing. A few seconds of silence will alert the employer that there is a problem in the question. He or she may go on to another topic, laugh uncomfortably or even repeat the question. Saying nothing is a fairly hostile response, so don't use it unless you are willing to risk not getting a job offer or setting up an atmosphere of confrontation.

3. ANSWER THE QUESTION AS IT WAS ASKED

In the interview, just as on the application, you have the right to answer an illegal question, if you choose. It's only illegal for the employer to ask, not for you to respond. If you think the answer will not be held against you, you may reveal anything you want about yourself. The drawback to this choice is that you don't know the interviewer's prejudices so you don't know how your response will be interpreted. If you say in response to a question about children, "I've got two beautiful children, but they're grown up and on their own, so I don't have child care issues," you may inadvertently be revealing you are older than you look.

The only times I recommend revealing a protected piece of information are:

— if you have a very youthful appearance and are interviewing for a responsible position, you might say:

I know I look young, but I'm 29 and I've been working in the field for eight years.

— or if you are balding and/or look significantly older than you are, you might say:

My dad gave me the gift of looking mature beyond my years, but I'm really only 29 and I've got all the energy and ambition of a young man."

4. ASK HOW THE QUESTION RELATES TO YOUR PERFORMANCE OF THE JOB

This is another confrontational response. It lets the employer know that you are aware of your rights as an applicant and that you know s/he just violated the law. It doesn't make a job offer a likely outcome of the interview.

I recommend the first method, since it lets you act graciously and generously toward an interviewer. You can help an inexperienced employer avoid a potential problem and show how easy you are to be around — a good person to hire!


Discussing Your Disability: Should You Say Anything?

Your disability may not be visible or very obvious to the outside world. Should you say something to potential employers? Do you have to say anything at the interview?

The ADA prevents employers from asking applicants about their disabilities before it is necessary. It does not prevent the applicant from voluntarily disclosing information about her or his disability. How do you, the job seeker, decide what to do? Here are some arguments which can help you figure out what approach you want to take.

Invisible and Visible Disabilities

An invisible or hidden disability is one that is not immediately obvious to an observer. Some common medical conditions that cause invisible disabilities are diabetes, HIV/AIDS, back problems, heart problems, arthritis and asthma. Visible disabilities include using a wheelchair, blindness or loss of a limb.

In the Mainstream's editor Fritz Rumpel noted that, "There is a general belief in the rehabilitation and disability communities that job-seekers with hidden disabilities rarely disclose their impairments — ever." [author's emphasis]

One Choice:

Don’t Talk about the Disability

The major reasons for not disclosing a visible disability prior to the interview include:

1. You might not get the chance to interview, to present your qualifications if you disclose a disability. There is ample evidence of employer discrimination toward persons with disabilities that necessitated passage of the ADA and other laws against discrimination against persons with disabilities.

2. Disclosing the disability makes it a relevant part of job seeking. Your abilities to do the job should be the focus of the interview. The mechanics of how to do the job, whether and which accommodations you might need should be discussed only after the job offer.

3. Talking about the disability takes up the limited time in an interview when you could be displaying your skills and relevant experience to do the job.

4. Talking about the disability, especially as part of the initial interviewing process, makes the disability a part of your introduction of yourself, a lasting label, long after any accommodations of the disability on the job are worked out. You become "John, the guy with one arm" rather than "John, the office administrator. "

5. Not disclosing the disability also allows you to place the disability in the proper perspective in regard to employment. You manage your disability while focusing on the main task: doing the job. The disability is not the major element of your work life.

This may be a change in emphasis for newly disabled workers or people whose lives have been completely changed by illness, whose disability has been the major topic of conversation and the driving force in all his or her interactions for years. It is common when a disabling condition occurs, that every aspect of life is predicated on the medical condition: food, sleep, activity schedules, income, social life, reading material, public and private relationships. Even conversation changes. Discussing intimate details with relative strangers is acceptable, even expected.

Often the disabling condition is the reason most people contact a disabled person - the insurance company, employer, physicians and other medical personnel - and the primary cause of changes in his or her financial, marital, familial, social and sexual life.

Not mentioning the disability in an interview can be a first indication of the resumption of a life that no longer revolves around the disability. Non-disclosure can even help change your life focus, turning your attention outward, expanding from the survival mode and thinking about other issues including work.

To widen your gaze beyond your medical condition, you will want to learn appropriate ways to speak about your life in an employment situation. It is common that a person with a disability does not know how to describe his or her skills and situation in a manner that does not include mentioning the disability. This lack of interviewing skills, easily corrected, should not be the reason for revealing a disability in the interview.

Often individuals who have disabilities forget that many of their fellow employees go to work daily with invisible disabilities or potentially disabling conditions: ulcers, migraines or mental disabilities for example. They work around their discomforts or inabilities without feeling the need to explain them to an interviewer or employer.

6. You can always talk about the disability after you are on the job and know more about what kind of accommodations you need. You have not lost your ADA rights to reasonable accommodation by not revealing the disability at the time of the interview.

Another Choice:

Talk about the Disability

Some reasons for telling the interviewer about your disability prior to the interview include:

1. It indicates acceptance of yourself as having the disability. Willingness to tell a stranger about a disability may reflect your comfort with being a person with a disability and may help others to be comfortable with you.

2. It weeds out those interviewers who will be unable to deal with the disability and evaluate you on your credentials fairly, because of their reaction to the disability.

3. It helps you not waste your time trying to alter the perceptions or help in the adjustment of an interviewer. Some people with disabilities feel they don't really want to work in a situation where they have to prove themselves to someone.

Although this approach may be seen as condoning discrimination, it also acknowledges the enormous amounts of energy that people with disabilities expend on helping others change their attitudes, just to start a working relationship.

4. It deals with the disability issue right away and does not create a situation in which the interviewer may be uncomfortably surprised. Some people with disabilities are concerned that surprising an interviewer might create a lasting barrier to long-term career success by forming a bad first impression.

5. It allows the interviewer to formulate relevant questions for the interview ahead of time.

6. People living with disabilities sometimes feel that being honest, candid and frank about their disability signals how they want the disability issue to be handled.

People with disabilities such as cancer or other serious illnesses have spoken about not wanting to hide behind employment laws. The hard-won and emotionally difficult decision to reveal controversial aspects of your life, to be open and "out" about disability status, often allows you to speak freely about your life, perhaps for the first time. The thought of reverting to being discreet, even closeted about important parts of your life may feel constraining and no longer acceptable.

A receptive hearer may appreciate your courage in disclosing a disabling condition. Some job seekers feel admired and remembered better because of the uniqueness and honesty of this approach.

The Decision is Up to You

Whatever way you decide to handle the issue of your disability in an interview and at work, remember:

Discrimination is illegal and you don’t have to put up with it. Your abilities — not your disabilities — are what count.