9.6 Physical/Medical Exams Are the Last Step in Selection

Physical Ability and Sensory/Perceptual Ability Tests

For specific jobs, some organizations require physical ability tests; for example, to earn a position in a fire department, you may have to be able to carry one hundred pounds up three flights of stairs. As part of its selection procedures, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) tests all applicants for physical ability. Suppose you use physical tests in your hiring processes. In that case, the key to making them useful is to determine a minimum standard or expectation specifically related to the job requirements. An HR manager should also consider the legality of such tests, perhaps in the context of strength; for example, they run the risk of discriminating against female applicants or those with physical disabilities. In Canada, human rights acts require medical or physical examinations of job candidates to be job-related (Ontario Human Rights Commission, n.d.).

Physical/Medical Exams

Fitness testing and physical or medical examinations to verify or determine a person’s ability to perform essential job duties should only occur after a conditional employment offer, preferably in writing. This allows an applicant with a disability to be considered exclusively on her or his merits during the selection process.

Information on medical tests may hurt people with disabilities. Therefore, employers should only get information from medical testing on the applicant’s ability to perform the essential job duties and any restrictions that may limit this ability. The applicant must give the employer enough information to help them provide any required accommodation.

The following checklist sets out an employer’s obligations when putting medical testing in place:

• Have job applicants been notified of testing before they start the job?
  • Where medical testing is appropriate, the employer should notify job applicants of this requirement when the job offer is made. Make clear to the applicant when and why such testing might be needed.
• Is there an objective basis for testing? 
  • The employer should make sure that the medical testing is necessary and appropriate. To decide when testing is needed, employers, where applicable, should consider the following questions, among others:
    1. Is the testing justified objectively in terms of job performance? Is there a rational connection between testing and job performance?
    2. Is there an objective basis to believe that the degree, nature, scope and probability of risk caused by a disability will adversely affect the safety of the candidate, co-workers or members of the public?

Initial Screening

Employment Testing

Selection Interview

Background and Reference Checks

Physical Examination

Decision to Hire

Figure 9.6.1 The steps in employee selection.

Pre-Employment Drug and Alcohol Testing

Pre-employment drug or alcohol testing is permitted only in limited circumstances. For example, commercial bus and truck operations can subject drivers to pre-employment testing. As testing for alcohol or drugs is a form of medical examination, the test can only be administered following a conditional offer of employment. However, an employer cannot automatically withdraw offers of employment from prospective employees who fail their drug or alcohol test without first addressing the issue of accommodation. The Canadian Human Rights Act and provincial human rights codes protect individuals from discrimination based on disabilities, which can include addictions (Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2009).

Human Resources Management – 3rd Edition by Debra Patterson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.—Modifications: Used section Physical ability test, edited, changed example, added content.

“6. Requesting job-related sensitive information” in Human Rights at Work 2008, Third Edition by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, used under the Crown Copyright – NonCommercial Reproduction Licence (Canada). This reproduction is not endorsed by the Government of Ontario.—Modifications: Used section Medical tests, abridged.

“Employee Selection” from Introduction to Business by LibreTexts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, except where otherwise noted.—Used Steps of the employee selection process, redesigned.