How to or not to disclose a disability to a potential employer?
November 17th, 2009 | by admin |
army.veteran asked:
My situation is that I was medically discharged from the US Army in 2005. I have several disabilities and have an overall disability rating from the Veterans Administration. I have gone to school to retrain on a rehabilitation plan. I am about to graduate and currently looking for a new full time job. I had a great job offer from a company, and then I told them I have disabilities and they pulled the offer back. The field I am going into is Electronics and Computers. I have talked to many career advisors and they state that I should not tell the company I have them. I feel that I should. On my military discharged it also states that I was medically discharged and have a disability rating as well. I also run into problems when people ask me why I got out of the Army. I state I was medically discharged. I have been told to state that my doctor says that I can work. Any advice on this will be helpful to me. I am concerned about this situation.
Erik
My situation is that I was medically discharged from the US Army in 2005. I have several disabilities and have an overall disability rating from the Veterans Administration. I have gone to school to retrain on a rehabilitation plan. I am about to graduate and currently looking for a new full time job. I had a great job offer from a company, and then I told them I have disabilities and they pulled the offer back. The field I am going into is Electronics and Computers. I have talked to many career advisors and they state that I should not tell the company I have them. I feel that I should. On my military discharged it also states that I was medically discharged and have a disability rating as well. I also run into problems when people ask me why I got out of the Army. I state I was medically discharged. I have been told to state that my doctor says that I can work. Any advice on this will be helpful to me. I am concerned about this situation.
Erik
No Responses to “How to or not to disclose a disability to a potential employer?”
By Shipps on Nov 19, 2009 | Reply
I think it’s illegal to discrimanate against someone that’s disabled. If you are going into computers, I don’t see how a physical disability could affect your quailty of work. That’s ticks me off. I probably wouldn’t disclose the info about the disability, especially if your MD says you are clear to work. Good luck to you and don’t give up on your dreams!
By bschaf13 on Nov 19, 2009 | Reply
If you are not applying for federal jobs or law enforcement jobs, do not tell them shtit. the can not find out if you have a disability becasue of the privacy act. so dont tell them anything unless you are with law enforcement because they find out everything. good luck
By majormomma on Nov 21, 2009 | Reply
I’m not an advocate of lying during an interview, because the information will usually come out later and then you can be fired for lying on your application.
Create a resume and, in it, simply list the dates of service, your job title, and your rank at discharge. If you have to submit a copy of your DD214, do so without comment. If a potential employer asks why you were discharged early, simply tell them you had a service-related medical condition and that you are now cleared to work. If pressed, just explain that the military requires a much higher level of fitness than does a civilian job and that the medical condition will not interfere with your ability to do this job. Don’t go into details as to what the medical condition is.
It’s true that you cannot be discriminated against due to a disability if you are otherwise qualified to do the job with reasonable accommodations by the employer. However, it’s rarely worth it to legally pursue an employer who doesn’t hire you because the employer can also say that a better qualified candidate was hired (or give any number of reasons why you weren’t hired).
Hopefully, most employers will appreciate your military service and the qualities you can bring to the job. When I was a lab manager, I proactively hired ex-military because they didn’t whine, they could work well under pressure, were efficient, tended to be quite proficient in their jobs, worked well with others, and didn’t think it was an imposition to have to work extra shifts as needed. I also once hired a lab tech whose legs were partially paralyzed from an accident. She kept crutches in the lab and used them to move around, although she could stand or sit in one place without them. She was an excellent employee and kept pace with the other, more physically able employees.
Good luck to you.
By rwa000 on Nov 25, 2009 | Reply
the problem is if you don’t disclose it in the beginning then they will expect you to perform like everyone else, telling them after the fact you would not be covered by ADA because an employer must make a “reasonable” accommodation for your disability if you don’t disclose you would be hard pressed to get them to make the accommodation for you because you were not truthful rom the beginning and could be terminated for cause