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This is Aussie law. Americans might not be familiar with medical certificates and the like.
Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
51–60 of 93 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#52It is legal and normal(ish) in Austaralia [0] - talk to your doctors (immediately) they will have seen it before, lawyers will likely tell you to sign (I personally find emplyment lawyers the worst - my bias). [0] https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2017/august/employment-law-a-gu... (not the best source but probably a more useful one than the actual legislation) My personal assumptions - It sounds like you have some or all…
From your link… ”In many cases, employers have the right to seek further health information from their employees (eg for health and safety obligations), and employees can face disciplinary action and even dismissal if they are uncooperative.” When I worked in a former UK colony in Asia I was kind of amazed I had to get a health exam and provide the results to my employer before starting. Luckily the same country isn’…
Its amazing how many rules appear when your boss is trying to exit you from the building, and how relaxed these rules are every other day of the week.
Once upon a time (not very long ago) all the health insurance claims went through HR. And HR loves to gossip!
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#53Are they asking this because you are under-performing in their opinion?
Context, before some one gets me wrong. My first reaction would be like the others: "illegal, invasive, don't do it". However, trying to give a different point of view, they might need some sort of proof to justify internally or with the government something (i.e. an under-performance or too many ill days). For example, here in Italy we have the so called "protected categories", for which employers (bot public and pr…
Different situations and different country, but all of the correspondence I've seen between medical professionals and employers has been specific on what the employee needs and silent on everything else. Nothing is open to interpretation, nor provides extraneous information.
I will echo what others have said: get a lawyer. The laws of their jurisdiction will play a role. If those laws don't offer them protection in this regard, they may have some difficult decisions to make.
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#54Happened in Switzerland too: the offshore manager (India) insisted she hands over the medical records of her therapy status, she complied, then she was put on PIP with the outspoken prospect to be fired. Then fired, and the trial is ongoing. Moral: DO NOT ACCEPT THAT. NO.
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unions dont care about isolated cases.
That's literally the entire point of unions. For example, in the UK, the tube lines were brought to a screeching halt because TFL wanted to take disciplinary action against a driver that failed a breatherliser test. ( https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-31372269 )
They may or may not care about individuals even though they may use an individual case as an exemplar.
However the rest of these comments seem to suggest they do help individuals readily.
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#56Did you sign access to it as part of your employment contract? Sorry to say but theres a chance it's all legal as you may have consented to it.
And there's a chance that such contract terms, even if present, are not enforceable in Australia.
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#57No. And also: FUCK NO.
I'm not an expert in Australian law, but in every single country it's expressly forbidden to ask about people's health history as it's covered by multiple laws.
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#58In the US this is expressly forbidden by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It would surprise me a lot if stuff in AU is even worse than here, since for the most part it is pretty bad here. Anyway, contact a labor lawyer.
Are you sure employers in US are forbidden from asking medical records? Wikipedia says about discrimination, not about medical records. Also, it is legal to fire people based on their vaccination status which is obviously a medical record.
Vaccination is a different thing, it's closer to requiring workers to have the required licenses and qualifications for work.
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#59Are they asking this because you are under-performing in their opinion?
Context, before some one gets me wrong. My first reaction would be like the others: "illegal, invasive, don't do it". However, trying to give a different point of view, they might need some sort of proof to justify internally or with the government something (i.e. an under-performance or too many ill days). For example, here in Italy we have the so called "protected categories", for which employers (bot public and pr…
To anyone who commented, I of course agree with you. And you are right saying that locking the accounts is unlikely to be the result of a bureaucratic issue. As as I said, very little chance that is not as bad as it seems.
Re: Ask HN: Should I give my employer all my medical records?
#60I am also a software developer in Australia (NSW). I was 'headhunted' (in the loose sense) for a role and they booked me in for a "pre-employment medical check".
I assumed it would be something like: medical professional is briefed on my typical duties; medical professional assesses my abilities to perform these duties; medical professional then makes a recommendation to the employer. However on arriving and being presented the T&Cs and pre-check questionnaires, it became clear that the exercise was actually one of me declaring any and all medical information I could, with the T&Cs requiring that I consent to all of this information being provided to the employer.
I phoned my contact at the employer and said that this was ridiculous, and that none of the information I was asked to provide was relevant to the role: "it's just company policy for all employees", "we have a solid privacy policy".
They said that they had another health provider who was more 'lax' about what they asked. I contacted the provider and got a hold of their equivalent T&Cs and questionnaire, and it was way worse. Example questions: "Are you happy with your current weight?", "Has your weight changed in the past 5 years?", "In terms of noise, have you ever been exposed to (chainsawing|scuba diving|panel beating)?", "Are you pregnant or do you think you could be?". There were also questions about health conditions of family etc.
Ultimately I told them I wasn't interested in the organisation whilever they required me to unnecessarily disclose personal medical information. That said, I recognise I am very fortunate to be in a financial position to 'die on that hill', but I wish enough of us felt able to stand up to this bullshit so that none of us would have to.