Prospective Employers in
Queensland can now ask Job Applicants to disclose pre-existing injuries or
Medical Conditions. If a prospective employer wishes to do this the request to
the job applicant must be in writing, must describe accurately the duties of
the job and must notify the job applicant that if they knowingly give a false
or misleading reply to the questions then they will not be able to claim
compensation or damages if something occurs at work that aggravates the
pre-existing injury or medical condition. It seems likely that the question of
what is pre-existing, and what is knowingly, as well as whether the job duties
were accurately described could all be fertile grounds for dispute.
Just because a prospective
employer can ask these questions is it wise to do so? If an employer knows that
an employee has a pre-existing injury or medical condition that employer is
likely to have a higher duty of care towards that employee. Prospective
Employers are also still required to ensure that during their recruitment
process they do not make decisions about hiring staff which breach the various
provisions of the Fair Work Act (Cth), the Disability Discrimination Act (Cth)
and the Anti Discrimination Act (Qld). The process of recruiting staff remains
one that employers should undertake with great care.
