Q: What can I say if a job app asks me what my mental history is? Ex: Have you ever had counseling for mental health, if so, why?
A: You don't have to answer, legally! The question is inherently discriminatory, just like how they used to ask your race and it used to be mandatory to answer but now it's optional and usually doesn't show up on job apps I think because it's universally accepted that it's discriminatory. However, the boxes for female or male are often still on job apps and countless other personal forms, although they are also discriminatory because they could be the basis for misogynist discrimination. In addition, this binary excludes all the different shades of gender and sex a person may define him or herself as. There should be a third box for Other and a blank in case the individual wishes to explicate.
-I think the following pictures have questions about mental health that are illegal and that you can legally not answer, or say "This question is discriminatory and illegal under the Americans Disability Act, therefore I am abstaining from answering it."
1. First Source*: It is an application for a Deck Hand with the Washington State Ferries.
2 - Second source** on this issue:
Quote from Employment Rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (for California):
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The job application is a pre-employment inquiry under the ADA. Its purpose is to gather information on your skills, abilities, training, credentials, and references. It also serves to identify where you can be reached. It may not be used to elicit information about whether you are an individual with a disability or about the nature or severity of your disability.
Questions seeking information on your prior or current illnesses, medication, medical treatment, substance abuse, disabilities, injuries, or Workers’ Compensation claims are prohibited, as are all inquiries into your family’s medical history. But questions about illegal drug use are permitted.
Also prohibited are questions about subjects so closely related to disability that your response is likely to elicit information about your disability.
In general, an employer may not ask questions on an application or in an interview about whether you will need reasonable accommodation for a job. This is because these questions are likely to elicit whether you have a disability (generally, only people who have disabilities will need reasonable accommodations).
In order to assure that misconceptions do not bias the employment selection process, prohibitions against any inquiries regarding your physical or mental disabilities prior to an offer of employment have been included in the ADA. Until you are offered a job, an employer is only permitted to make inquiries as to your ability to perform job-related functions.
No. People with psychiatric disabilities are frequently confronted with employment application forms that request detailed information concerning their mental health. The information conveyed may sometimes be used to exclude you from employment, often before your ability to perform the functions of the job is even evaluated.
3. What do I do when I am filling out an application for employment and it asks me an illegal question?
This is an individual decision you need to make yourself. Lying on an application is grounds for later dismissal. Leaving a question blank may cause the potential employer to ask specific questions. Some people answer this question by simply stating “not applicable,” or by saying, “I can perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodations,” or, “This is an improper question.”
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-I like the answer: "This is an improper question." - short and sweet, yet asserts that you know your rights. Or you could say, "This question is an illegal invasion of privacy according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, but I can assure you that I understand the requirements of this job and am capable of accomplishing them successfully." or, if you don't know the full requirements yet - "..., but I can assure you once I know the complete requirements of the position in question I will inform you whether I believe I am qualified to perform this job" (sounds a little stuffy, but hey I think potential employers like formality - it shows you are professional and are taking the job seriously.
3. - Third source*** on this issue:
-I like the approach of this webpage because it is practical and not in legal jargon. More talking about the personal experience a person with disabilities may have during the job application process, rather than a list of laws and minute stipulations.
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9. Should I tell the employer about my current or past mental illness when I apply for a job?
Usually not. Under the law, when you are applying for a job, you do not have to tell the employer about a disability, either physical or mental. The law also says that in most cases, the employer may not ask about any disability until after the employer offers you a job. So if the employer asks you during the job application if you have a mental illness, if you have been hospitalized, or if you take medication or see a psychiatrist, you do not have to answer. You may also have good reason to file a complaint of employment discrimination if the employer asks those questions during your job application.
Because you are not required to talk about your disability when you are applying for a job, many people choose not to talk about it until after they are hired and need some help because of their disability.
However, some people with mental illness may choose to talk with the employer about it from the start. If, for example, the employer already knows about your mental illness or if you have symptoms that make your illness apparent, you may want to discuss the illness and symptoms and the accommodations that may be needed. If the employer is not prejudiced and wants to hire you, this may help him or her work things out so that you can do the job. Some employers, however, are prejudiced and may not hire you because of your psychiatric disability.
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Webbibliography:
1. *Webpage entitled "Washington State Illegal Questions on Job Application." WWW: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/54747328/Washington-State-Illegal-Questions-on-Job-Application. Found by Google image search for "job applications with illegal mental health questions."
2. **Webpage entitled "Employment Rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (and other related laws)." WWW: http://www.disabilityrightsca.org/pubs/506801.htm#_Toc264294466. I found this by doing a Google search for "are employers allowed to ask about mental health history on a job application?"
caveat - The specifics may be different for various states, as the version I quoted above is from California. I snuffed around a little for the NJ version but couldn't find it. I think the Americans with Disabilities Act is national, though, so it should be the same...
3. ***Webpage entitled "Questions and Answers for People with Mental Illness." WWW: http://www.disabilityrightsnc.org/pages/169/mental-illness/. Found with Google search for: "job app mental question".
-Additional Resources:
National homepage for ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act: http://adata.org/Static/Home.html
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