EEOC Limits Medical Inquiries About Employees with Known Conditions

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidance on obtaining medical information when employees with known medical conditions are unable to perform their jobs.  According to the EEOC, poor performance often is unrelated to a person's medical condition.  Medical information can only be obtained where the employer has objective evidence that the person's medical condition is the direct cause of the performance problems. Without such evidence, the performance problems should be handled in accordance with existing polices concerning poor performance.