1704 A1 Procedure for Handling Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Medical Information

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Georgia Department of Human Services
Human Resources Policy #1704 A1

Procedure for Handling Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Medical Information

Section A: ADA Requirements Overview

  1. The ADA does not limit the nature or extent of post-job-offer medical examinations and inquiries. It does, however, place very strict limitations on the use of information resulting from such examinations and inquiries. These limitations apply also to information resulting from examinations or inquiries made of employees.

  2. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cites the following language in its Technical Assistance Manual for the Americans with Disabilities Act:

    "…​ All information obtained from post-offer medical examinations and inquiries must be collected and maintained on separate forms, in separate medical files and must be treated as a confidential medical record. Therefore, the employer should not place any medical-related material in an employee’s personnel file. The employer should take steps to guarantee the security of the employee’s medical information…"

Section B: Medical Document Definition

  1. For purposes of this procedure, a medical document is any document that provides any level of detail concerning a general or specific disability or medical condition. While not exhaustive, examples of such forms or documents include:

    1. Employee Statement of Health

    2. Long/Short Term Disability Benefit Claim Forms

    3. Employee Health Expense Reports

    4. Health Benefit Plan Disability Certification

    5. Physician’s Service Reports

    6. Evidence of Insurability

    7. Doctor’s statements related to employee absences (sick leave approval)

    8. Doctor’s release (return to work) statements

    9. Infectious Disease Reports

    10. Incident Reports (where there is an identified work-related injury)

    11. Workers' Compensation Forms

    12. Family and Medical Leave material containing medical information

Section C: Confidentiality and Access to Medical Information

  1. Compliance with the ADA requires that medical (disability related) information be handled in a confidential manner. To ensure compliance, the following restrictions apply to accessing and retaining medical information:

    1. Supervisors and managers are not to create and/or retain any employee medical information as defined by these procedures. This would include, for example, information detailing an employee absence based on a medical condition or request for an accommodation.

    2. Supervisors and managers may maintain summary logs or other documents necessary to record employee attendance or performance, even if such information is related to a disability. The document cannot, however, identify generally or specifically the nature of the disability or illness.

      Example: An employee calls the unit supervisor and volunteers the information that the chemotherapy treatment they received the previous day has them feeling nauseous and they are requesting sick leave for the day. It is permissible for the supervisor to note in the employee’s productivity file the request for sick leave, date, time of call, etc. No reference, however, is to be made to the chemotherapy or the disease if this document is to be retained by the supervisor.

  2. Medical information folders will be centrally retained with the Office of Human Resources (OHR) at 2 Peachtree to ensure the required restricted access.

  3. Any request by a supervisor or manager to review an employee’s official personnel file will not include the medical information folder. Unless otherwise authorized, no request for access to or information from an employee’s official personnel file will include the associated medical information folder except as provided for by this procedure.

  4. Human Resources staff will be informed of the critical need to strictly adhere to this procedure.

  5. The environment where these records are retained are secured in a locked file cabinet. This restricts access to all but those designated to handle these confidential records.

  6. Supervisors and managers will be informed of the location and person(s) with access to this information.

Section D: Employee and Applicant Medical Documentation

  1. While the medical record provisions of the ADA, apply only to those applicants and employees who satisfy its definition of persons with disabilities. For purposes of continuity, all DHS employee and applicant medical information will be handled as follows:

  2. All medical information currently residing in supervisor productivity files, or other files not created for the purpose of complying with these procedures, must be removed and immediately sent to OHR at 2 Peachtree to be retained in a separate file.

  3. No other copies of the medical information will be retained in any other folder at the agency. Exceptions may be permissible in instances where authorized confidential files are maintained as a result of litigation, workers' compensation matters, or Federal or State enforcement agency investigations. Other exceptions permitted are files created as a result of complaints filed under the Unlawful Discrimination Complaint Procedure, Classified and Unclassified Employee Compliant Procedures, or DHS administrative investigations or reviews. Additional exceptions may be permitted by the DHS Office of Human Resources on a case-by-case basis.

  4. The separately created medical information folder may be filed in any of the following three ways:

    1. The folder may be placed within the employee’s official personnel file. (Under this option the medical folder is still to be considered a separate file and is not available for access except as provided by this procedure).

    2. The folder may be placed alongside the employee’s official personnel file.

    3. The folder may be retained in a separate area than that of the employee’s official personnel file.

Section E: Other Considerations

  1. The provisions of this procedure extend to official employee records requested from any archive. In handling these archive records, a separate medical folder need not be created. However, it will be necessary to carefully review the contents of the folder and remove any medical information before releasing the folder to anyone not authorized to access the medical information.

  2. Government officials investigating compliance with the ADA and other Federal and State laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability or handicap should be provided relevant information on request. Other Federal laws and regulations also may require disclosure of relevant medical information.

  3. Relevant information may be provided to State workers' compensation offices or "second injury" funds, in accordance with State workers' compensation laws.

  4. This procedure does not prohibit, when appropriate, first aid and safety personnel from being informed if a given disability might require emergency treatment or if any specific procedures are needed in the case of fire or other evacuations.

For additional information or assistance, please contact your local Human Resource Office, or email DHS-Policies@dhs.ga.gov.