pre-employment screening

LeeR

does anyone know of anyway to screen for people who are likely to ride work comp or be muiltiple comp filers

Peyton Irby MS

the eeoc takes the position that asking about previous comp claims or personal injury claims is an ADA violation. the allowable questions [according to the eeoc] are whether the applicant can perform the essential physical functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. there probably are HR services companies that can find out the information regarding comp claims but if it can be shown you made a decision on that information, then you are back in the ADA quagmire.
Peyton Irby
Editor, Mississippi Employment Law Letter
Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis, P.A.
(601) 949-4810
[email]pirby@watkinsludlam.com[/email]

lorrie

In Kansas, the Kansas Department of Human Resources has a form that can be completed by the employer and faxed in to them requesting previous work comp records on an individual.

You can see this form at [url]http://www.hr.state.ks.us/wc/html/wcfrmpdf.htm[/url]

I don't know about other states.

Of course, you can only request this information AFTER you have made a conditional offer of employment, and even then you must be careful about how you use the information. You can't retract an offer of employment just because they have a record of past claims. But if the information on a past claim shows that the person is still under physical restrictions by a physician, and those restrictions would not allow them to fulfill the duties of the job you have offered them, then you can retract the offer.

Don D

I'll share that answer with you, but only if you will first tell me how to spot applicants who will have attendance problems and theft issues.

Pork

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-21-04 AT 07:01AM (CST)[/font][br][br]LeeR: Remember what Peyton posted; {mwcc.state.ms.us} will get you to a computer web site in our state to which you can or your attorney can register and gather pertainent information which you must then closely hold and let management decisions be made. If you find, you then have a W/C bad apple, you will have to decide what to do with the information. We have one right now; but, I have not been in the middle of the actions on-going to deal with this individual. I would bet you money that before the management group can rid the company of this bad apple there will be an accident with injury. Another I suspected, checked, and there was nothing but our claim posted in her name and data.

Good luck, now tell "Dandy Don" how to recognize thieves and whatever!

PORK

My next thought after reading Cinder....below was to tell you to incorporate into your interview and enrollment administrative process, the following:

Is there any medical reason, physical or mental condition, which might interfer with your ability to accomplish the physical or mental activities of this position (JOB)?

With your retained attorney's blessing, you could have this on record, if lied to, then you should have in your policy manual or employee handbook, discipline procedures which will allow your company to "terminate for falsifying company records". When they respond to the application with disqualifing information you ask them to tell you more about the "yes response". You can then determine to have a physician check the revelation out or "simply put' terminate the interview and/or enrollment by with drawing the offer of employment.

hrbanker

In our initial interview we ask, "Are you able complete the basic duties of the job, with our without accommodation?" Some applicants then ask about the basic duties. Some will ask if there is lifting or bring up concerns. And as Pork says, if they say "yes" but cannot do the job, then you can terminate.

Cinderella

I find this to be a very interesting question. You didn't ask how to screen for people who HAVE had multiple claims and been suspected of "riding". You asked how to screen for people who are LIKELY to ride it or be multiple filers. So my question is, are you simply asking how to screen for liars or are you asking how to screen for people who are accident prone? x:-/

Cinderella

bump x:D

Don D

We're ignoring you. x}>

Cinderella

:-S

LeeR

sorry, been away for awhile. liars, cheats etc would be the preferred testing not looking for them to divulge previous claims etc

Cinderella

Aha, I see. Well, the best way is probably a thorough recruiting process. Check references, ask about trustworthyness, honesty, and other qualities. Ask their references to give you other references to talk to (since a lot of people just put their friends on their resumes). Use behavioral and situational interviewing techniques (i.e. "tell me about a time when you suspected a co-worker was being dishonest with you and how you handled the situation"). Do phone screens before interviews to "feel people out" before interviewing them. Ask one or two similar questions in the interview as you did in the phone interview to check for "a consistent story". Get more people involved in interviewing so you have a wide range of "feelers" out. Trust your gut. Probe for more information on questions they half-a$$ answer. Throw in a trick question and see how they react. Do background checks.

That's all I can think of for now.

Ruskanen

We used to do do background checks to find out about WC claims and found it was more trouble and paperwork than it was worth because no, you can't retract an offer of employment because someone has filed a WC claim in the past. Although we did retract an employment offer because in the paperwork the employee fills out during the physical, there is a question that states, "Have you ever filed a workers compensation claim or received benefits as a result of an industrial injury or disease?" The employee marked "no" when in fact she had filed a workers' comp claim. We termed her on the basis of dishonesty and falsifiying documents.

Balloonman

We do the same thing. Have an employee physical form the employee fills out post offer........ it asks about past injuries both work and non-work related. If they say they have not been hurt, and the wc check comes back with a number of WC injuries I withdraw the offer for falsifying paperwork.
My $0.02 worth!
DJ The Balloonman