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To Paul and other list members, Here's some information and good web sites on the ADA and pre-employment rights. It reflects what the law says, although what Paul and Sue and many others experience in real life, is of course not the same. A number of times in the past, the question of to tell or not to tell about PD at a job interview was discussed on the list. I had a number of interviews about 2-3 years ago, and chose not to tell. At the time, with medication and with optimal timing of when the interview took place, my symptoms were well hidden, and i didn't believe that at that stage, PD would interfere with my ability to do the job, and I did find a job, which I've been at for 2 years now, and told my co-workers about the PD about a year ago. My symptoms are more noticable now, but i still don't think they interfere with my job. And i think I have built up enough support that when i do have to request accomodations, they will be willing to do so. (I hope!) Of course, if you are requesting job accomodations under ADA, when applying for a job, you would have to tell about it from the start. And then there is the big question of whether an employer would choose a disabled applicant, especially one with a degenerative, non curable disease like PD, over a non-disabled, equally qualified candidate. The real world again. It would be helpful to hear about others' experiences looking for jobs with PD. Please post to list if you are able to write openly about it -- be aware though that your posting may be read by anyone on the Internet. Linda Here is what the ADA says: FROM: ADA questions and answers (Dept. of Justice - Office of Civil Rights) http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/qandaeng.htm Below are the sections related to job applicants: Q. What practices and activities are covered by the employment nondiscrimination requirements? A. The ADA prohibits discrimination in all employment practices, including job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. It applies to recruitment, advertising, tenure, layoff, leave, fringe benefits, and all other employment-related activities. Q. Who is a "qualified individual with a disability?" A. A qualified individual with a disability is a person who meets legitimate skill, experience, education, or other requirements of an employment position that s/he holds or seeks, and who can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. Requiring the ability to perform "essential" functions assures that an individual with a disability will not be considered unqualified simply because of inability to perform marginal or incidental job functions. If the individual is qualified to perform essential job functions except for limitations caused by a disability, the employer must consider whether the individual could perform these functions with a reasonable accommodation. If a written job description has been prepared in advance of advertising or interviewing applicants for a job, this will be considered as evidence, although not conclusive evidence, of the essential functions of the job. Q. Does an employer have to give preference to a qualified applicant with a disability over other applicants? A. No. An employer is free to select the most qualified applicant available and to make decisions based on reasons unrelated to a disability. For example, suppose two persons apply for a job as a typist and an essential function of the job is to type 75 words per minute accurately. One applicant, an individual with a disability, who is provided with a reasonable accommodation for a typing test, types 50 words per minute; the other applicant who has no disability accurately types 75 words per minute. The employer can hire the applicant with the higher typing speed, if typing speed is needed for successful performance of the job. Q. What limitations does the ADA impose on medical examinations and inquiries about disability? A. An employer may not ask or require a job applicant to take a medical examination before making a job offer. It cannot make any pre-employment inquiry about a disability or the nature or severity of a disability. An employer may, however, ask questions about the ability to perform specific job functions and may, with certain limitations, ask an individual with a disability to describe or demonstrate how s/he would perform these functions. An employer may condition a job offer on the satisfactory result of a post-offer medical examination or medical inquiry if this is required of all entering employees in the same job category. A post-offer examination or inquiry does not have to be job-related and consistent with business necessity. However, if an individual is not hired because a post-offer medical examination or inquiry reveals a disability, the reason(s) for not hiring must be job-related and consistent with business necessity. The employer also must show that no reasonable accommodation was available that would enable the individual to perform the essential job functions, or that accommodation would impose an undue hardship. A post-offer medical examination may disqualify an individual if the employer can demonstrate that the individual would pose a "direct threat" in the workplace (i.e., a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others) that cannot be eliminated or reduced below the oedirect threatî level through reasonable accommodation. Such a disqualification is job-related and consistent with business necessity. A post-offer medical examination may not disqualify an individual with a disability who is currently able to perform essential job functions because of speculation that the disability may cause a risk of future injury. After a person starts work, a medical examination or inquiry of an employee must be job-related and consistent with business necessity. Employers may conduct employee medical examinations where there is evidence of a job performance or safety problem, examinations required by other Federal laws, examinations to determine current oefitnessî to perform a particular job, and voluntary examinations that are part of employee health programs. Information from all medical examinations and inquiries must be kept apart from general personnel files as a separate, confidential medical record, available only under limited conditions. Q. When can an employer ask an applicant to "self-identify" as having a disability? A. Federal contractors and subcontractors who are covered by the affirmative action requirements of section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 may invite individuals with disabilities to identify themselves on a job application form or by other pre-employment inquiry, to satisfy the section 503 affirmative action requirements. Employers who request such information must observe section 503 requirements regarding the manner in which such information is requested and used, and the procedures for maintaining such information as a separate, confidential record, apart from regular personnel records. Another good source for ADA information http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu:80/links/adalinks.htm preemployment screening http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu/kinder/pages/pre_employment_screening.html reasonable accomodation http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu/kinder/pages/reasonable_accommodation.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn