News-Record.com

I got a call last week from an individual who said he recently had applied for jobs at two area companies. He said that as part of the application process, both companies had asked him to sign forms authorizing the release of his medical records to the company. He didn't want to do that and wanted to know if the request was legal. He had a copy of only one of the releases he was asked to sign, but he faxed that over, and, yes, it did ask him to authorize release of "medical records" (without any specified limitations).

His concern was well-founded. I talked with Ronald McKinley of Cincinnati, who has served on an expertise panel for the Society for Human Resource Management. He said flatly that such a request is illegal.

"An employer has a right and an obligation to check people's backgrounds -- but not for medical information," he said, adding, "I don't know why an employer would want that, except to discriminate."

The Americans With Disabilities Act does allow an employer to inquire about an employee's ability to perform defined functions relative to a specific job, with or without certain accommodations. But it doesn't allow blanket requests for medical information.

Jose Rosenberg, director of the Greensboro Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, drew a distinction between offering someone a job contingent on his passing a physical -- which is legal -- and asking for medical information in general, which is not.

And Burton Garland Jr., a partner in the Lowenbaum Partnership, a St. Louis law firm that represents employers, says he would not advise a client to seek such a blanket release of medical information at any point in the employment process.

Of the two companies mentioned by my caller, one said it did not ever ask for medical records or medical history. (This is the one from whom my caller did not get a copy of the release.) The other acknowledged having formerly included that information in its standard form seeking authorization of information release (along with such standard items as credit histories and arrest records). But it said it has never used that form to actually seek medical records and has now revised the form to eliminate any confusion. It e-mailed me a copy of the revised form, as well.

I see this as less an investigative story than a teachable moment.

If you're applying for a job and the potential employer asks you to authorize a blanket release of your medical records, you do not have to do so. Tell the company that its request is illegal and tell it to contact its lawyers or the EEOC if it doubts you.

And if you're an employer, be very careful about what information you ask your job applicants to authorize to be released, lest you run afoul of the Americans With Disabilities Act and possibly other laws, depending on your state. If you haven't had a lawyer review the paperwork you ask your job applicants to fill out, you should.