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Occupational Health check for new job - help!
I’m a 27 year old male who has suffered from a chronic gut pain condition for the last 6 years. It’s never prevented me from working or studying full time as it’s mainly managed by pain medication, and employers and my university have been very understanding about flare-ups and sick days.
I don’t have a diagnosis although have undergone every possible gastro investigation and after several years been discharged. I am now under the care of a pain management consultant.
I’ve just applied for a local authority job and been given a conditional offer of employment, subject to various checks. The only outstanding one is an Occupational Health check. I informed them about my health condition on a form that I filled in and gave to HR.
I phoned HR to ask about this test and was told that they could not give me a start date until after it, as they had to wait for Occupational Health to give me the “all clear”. When I asked what this meant, I was told it was to check whether I was “fit to work”.
I had sort of assumed that because of the Equality Act 2010 they wouldn’t be allowed to prevent me from doing the job on the ground of my health. But this is not the impression I got from the HR advisor that I spoke to.
Should I be worried about this? I might have slightly more sick days than average (and I might not, it really depends on my condition) but I know that I am up to working. In my last role, I had two sick days in 9 months (although I have to admit, I did go in to work when I was pretty ill or exhausted a couple of times).
I am stressing now because I have no idea what the test entails. On the one hand, I feel like I should try to downplay my condition so it doesn’t impede my chances of getting the job. On the other hand, I am actually ill and there will be times that I need an employer to be understanding about this.
Any advice about this would be massively appreciated!
I don’t have a diagnosis although have undergone every possible gastro investigation and after several years been discharged. I am now under the care of a pain management consultant.
I’ve just applied for a local authority job and been given a conditional offer of employment, subject to various checks. The only outstanding one is an Occupational Health check. I informed them about my health condition on a form that I filled in and gave to HR.
I phoned HR to ask about this test and was told that they could not give me a start date until after it, as they had to wait for Occupational Health to give me the “all clear”. When I asked what this meant, I was told it was to check whether I was “fit to work”.
I had sort of assumed that because of the Equality Act 2010 they wouldn’t be allowed to prevent me from doing the job on the ground of my health. But this is not the impression I got from the HR advisor that I spoke to.
Should I be worried about this? I might have slightly more sick days than average (and I might not, it really depends on my condition) but I know that I am up to working. In my last role, I had two sick days in 9 months (although I have to admit, I did go in to work when I was pretty ill or exhausted a couple of times).
I am stressing now because I have no idea what the test entails. On the one hand, I feel like I should try to downplay my condition so it doesn’t impede my chances of getting the job. On the other hand, I am actually ill and there will be times that I need an employer to be understanding about this.
Any advice about this would be massively appreciated!
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