Stick Out Your Tongue and Say: "Uh!" What Constitutes A "Medical Examination" Under ADA?

In light of my earlier posting discussing the recent court decision regarding the MMPI as a medical examination, you may be wondering what exactly are the factors that determine whether a particular test or selection practice is a medical examination.

If you review EEOC’s guidelines, you will find the following list of factors, which EEOC says are helpful in determining whether the procedure or test is medical or not:

The following factors are helpful in
determining whether a procedure or test is medical:

* Is it administered by a health care professional or someone
trained by a health care professional?

* Are the results interpreted by a health care professional or
someone trained by a health care professional?

* Is it designed to reveal an impairment or physical or mental
health?

* Is the employer trying to determine the applicant’s physical
or mental health or impairments?

* Is it invasive (for example, does it require the drawing of
blood, urine or breath)?

* Does it measure an applicant’s performance of a task, or does
it measure the applicant’s physiological responses to performing
the task?

* Is it normally given in a medical setting (for example, a
health care professional’s office)?

* Is medical equipment used?

EEOC also provides some helpful examples:

An employer requires applicants to lift a thirty pound box and carry it twenty feet. This is not a medical examination; it is just a test of whether the applicant can perform this task.

But, if the employer takes the applicant’s blood pressure or heart rate after the lifting and carrying, the test would be a medical examination because it is measuring the applicant’s physiological response to lifting and carrying, as opposed to the applicant’s ability to lift and carry.

This next example is particularly relevant for companies using psychological tests:

A psychological test is designed to reveal mental illness, but a particular employer says it does not give the test to disclose mental illness (for example, the employer says it uses the test to disclose just tastes and habits). But, the test also is interpreted by a psychologist, and is routinely used in a clinical setting to provide evidence that would lead to a diagnosis of a mental disorder or impairment (for example, whether an applicant has paranoid tendencies, or is depressed). Under these facts, this test is a medical examination.

Go here for the complete EEOC document. HRhero.com also has a brief note on this issue here.

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