9.3 What Can an Employer Do to Avoid Increased Workers’ Compensation Costs and Comply With the ADA?

Technical assistance manual on the employment provisions (Title I) of the Americans With Disabilities Act

IX. WORKERS' COMPENSATION AND WORK-RELATED INJURY

The ADA allows an employer to take reasonable steps to avoid increased workers’ compensation liability while protecting persons with disabilities against exclusion from jobs they can safely perform.

Steps the Employer May Take

After making a conditional job offer, an employer may inquire about a person’s workers’ compensation history in a medical inquiry or examination that is required of all applicants in the same job category. However, an employer may not require an applicant to have a medical examination because a response to a medical inquiry (as opposed to results from a medical examination) discloses a previous on–the–job injury, unless all applicants in the same job category are required to have the examination. (See Chapter V.)

The employer may use information from medical inquiries and examinations for various purposes, such as:

• to verify employment history;
• to screen out applicants with a history of fraudulent workers’ compensation claims;
• to provide information to state officials as required by state laws regulating workers’ compensation and "second injury" funds;
• to screen out individuals who would pose a "direct threat" to health or safety of themselves or others, which could not be reduced to an acceptable level or eliminated by a reasonable accommodation. (See Chapter IV.)