Hi, i am waiting nervously to find out if i have been successful following 2 interviews for a new job last week. The thing is I have rrms, which is fairly dormant at the moment. The thing is should i tell my new employers if i am offered the job or just wait until my next relapse? that is of course if I get it! Is there a protocol to follow? Any advise would be greatly received.
I know all that George but we seem to be talking about telling employers immediately after getting a job. They can’t sack you for being disabled but it’s sticky if you accept a full time job then say ‘by the way I can’t work every 4th Tuesday and I’ll need regular time off for appointments and I might be too tired to work a full day’.
I think best to come clean on application form or not mention it at all. If no obvious symptoms I’d go for say nothing.
I have short-listed and interviewed for nearly 30 years. It is disgustingly easy to not employ a particular person and to rescind a job offer. Your previous advice to get past any trial period is good but I still wouldn’t tell till/if it becomes an issue.
Liz
BTW an employer is permitted to put a question on the application asking how much time a person has had off sick in the past year…with dates and reasons.
got a sketchy diagnosis about 18 years ago at Charing X. Lesions in the brain suggested MS but at that time Lumbar puncture said no antibodies. Had some facial neuralgia in June/July this year and a funny thick tongue, felt like the end was burnt etc. Had an MRI 14.8.2012 and went to see the neurologist on Wednesday 31.10.2012 . Apparently my diagnosis way back when should have been that I had MS, instead I plodded on thinking I didn’t have it! Came as a bit of a shock to find out it’s here, alive and kicking! Can’t get my head around it - do I still have RRMS or am I now entering phase 2? I am so confused? what’s next? I have to see an MS nurse but what more can she tell me than I have read since Wednesday. You guys out there are doing it, please help me.
i guess it will depend on the job
do you lone work ?
if you do i think you have to 
moving from being a teaching assistant to a customer service role. nothing exciting but perhaps a bit less stress!
It is NOT a requirement to tell your employers your diagnosis at interview. In fact it is illegal for them to ask about your health.
Telling them when they have offered you the job is the best action as then you have the safeguards of the Equalities Act and it stops them thinking they are employing someone who is scarce with the truth.
I think the days are gone when not telling them can be construed as misconduct and sack able. Telling them might get them thinking they are employing someone who is not afraid of the future and is truthful.
Once the job has been offered to you in writing they would have great difficulty in rescinding the offer.
Good luck
George
thank you ggood . that was exactly what i wad thinking of doing if i was offered the job, fingers crossed for the right outc ome for me.
Yes there are protocols but I hope someone more knowledeable will be along to tell you what they are - I think you don’t have to say anything about your diagnosis unless directly asked. I don’t see why you would feel guilty - congrats on getting the job
Find out if there is a probation period first would be another suggestion as they could say you hadn’t passed that as a means of maybe getting rid of you if you tell them straight away.
Pip
Good point by pip; better to be safe than sorry.
Forgot that one! Was reading this earlier, go with the advice of ggood and inform them in such a way after the job offer in writing, possibly in a “Am I okay to take time off for Drs. Appointments” sort of way, not a draconian way as it will make them then not really like you!
Hi, dunno the answer sorry, but just wanna wish you luck and hope you get the job.
luv Pollx
If you tell employers immediately after you have got a job you could end up being dismissed for gross misconduct. While you don’t have to inform them about MS if you tell them just after being taken on permanently it could be classed as having wilfully lied on your application - like ‘forgetting’ to tell about an old conviction.
So…you either leave it off your application then don’t bring it up until/unless you become ill or you tell them straight off and let them know that it barely affects you.
Liz
I think you are wrong here George.
Liz
Sorrry Liz; i’M NOT WRONG
From the EHRC WEBSITE: Advice for employers.
Except in very restricted circumstances or for very restricted purposes, you are not allowed to ask any job applicant about their health or any disability until the person has been:
· offered a job either outright or on a conditional basis, or
· included in a pool of successful candidates to be offered a job when a position becomes available (for example, if an employer is opening a new workplace or expects to have multiple vacancies for the same role but doesn’t want to recruit separately for each one).
This includes asking such a question as part of the application process or during an interview. It also includes sending them a questionnaire about their health for them to fill in before you have offered them a job. Questions relating to previous sickness absence count as questions that relate to health or disability.
No-one else can ask these questions on your behalf either. So you cannot refer an applicant to an occupational health practitioner or ask an applicant to fill in a questionnaire provided by an occupational health practitioner before the offer of a job is made (or before inclusion in a pool of successful applicants) except in very limited circumstances, which are explained next.
The point of stopping employers asking questions about health or disability is to make sure that all job applicants are looked at properly to see if they can do the job in question, and not ruled out just because of issues related to or arising from their health or disability, such as sickness absence, which may well say nothing about whether they can do the job now.
You can ask questions once you have made a job offer or included someone in a group of successful candidates. At that stage, you could make sure that someone’s health or disability would not prevent them from doing the job. But you must consider whether there are reasonable adjustments that would enable them to do the job.
You can read more about making reasonable adjustments to remove barriers for disabled people.
GX
If they withdraw an offer that is discrimination as there is no other reason so therefore you take them to tribunal http://www.dls.org.uk/advice/factsheet/employment/tribunal_tactics/Tribunal%20tactics%20(Large%20Print).pdf
George
IF there is no other reason. Employers can use all sort of tactics to ensure there is another reason.
Yes but at tribunal the Judges will see through them; what other reason could they say for offering a job one minute but when she says “I’ve got MS” withdrawing the offer.
If she told them at interview there would be more chance to make up a reason for not getting the job.
G
That’s why I would say nothing.
Liz
Hi, no need for you to feel guilty, you’ve done nothing wrong. I agree with what is said about being protected by law, that is all well and good but people behave in different ways, not how they must act by law. People have personalities. My own feeling is that if you haven’t mentioned it at interview, I wouldn’t rush in on my first day and mention it then. If your ms suddenly takes a turn for the worse and you are off sick, then so be it, you’ll be treated like any sick employee, anyone can be sick at anytime. But if I had just employed someone and , on the first day in the job, they said to me , “I have ms, I might be off sick more than anyone else, I might need a day off, and oh I have to go to the doctors quite often and I need time of for that”, that would suddenly start alarm bells ringing in my head and, although I know that I can’t discriminate by law, I might just start thinking to mysef that I had employed the wrong person and, regardless of the law, I might now be wondering how I could get rid of that person! IMO, it’s fine to go on about tribunals and the law. Apart from anything else, winning a tribunal is fine but not going to gain you any friends in the place, enemies more like. Would you want to stay at a company where you were only there because you had won a tribunal, I know I wouldn’t! if you really want to mention it when you are offered a job, I wouldn’t bother talking about illness or time off, worry about that when and if it happens, I would put a very positive spin on things and say something like “I just want you to know that I have ms, it does n’t really affect me and I don’t want to dwell on it, I just want to make you aware of it”. I know I’m always saying this but good will gets you a long way, let’s not start off with tribunals and the law. Good luck! Cheryl:-)