Telling potential employers about Parkinson’s

For more information, visit the Parkinson’s UK website (last updated November 2021).

If you’re looking for a job, you may be wondering about whether you need to tell a possible employer about your condition.

In Great Britain

It is against the law for a potential employer to ask you about your health or any disability before offering you a job, except in very limited circumstances.

You should only be asked questions about your health for certain purposes, such as in the examples below.

If a potential employer is trying to find out whether you need any changes or reasonable adjustments to be made to the recruitment process
For monitoring purposes. Potential employers can ask you to complete a form stating your race, gender, sexuality, religion, age and if you have a disability. Filling in these forms is usually optional and they are processed separately from your application
If a potential employer is trying to find out if you have a disability or health condition that would affect your ability to carry out an essential part of the job. For example, if you were applying for a job as a scaffolder, your employer could reasonably ask you if you have any condition that would affect your ability to climb scaffolding and work at heights
If they require an employee to have a particular disability or condition as part of the role they are recruiting for

In Northern Ireland

Employers are still allowed to ask questions about health and disability before making a job offer when they have a good reason for doing so. For example, when a job involves working at heights. If they ask you to complete a pre-employment health questionnaire, you should answer the questions on the form honestly.

However, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland says that an employer should only consider a response to a health questionnaire as one of a number of factors to consider before reaching their final decision about who to hire. The same applies to the results of a medical examination or the opinion of a medical adviser.

In particular, your potential employer should also consider what reasonable adjustments, if any, you may need. They should then make their selection decision following an assessment of how you would perform in the job if these reasonable adjustments were made.

Deciding what to tell your potential employer about Parkinson’s

Generally speaking, it’s up to you whether you tell a potential employer about your condition. Otherwise, the only time you would need to tell them is if:

you think your Parkinson’s may cause a health and safety risk either to you or to someone else
you would need your employer to make changes to the way you work (reasonable adjustments)
you live in Northern Ireland and your employer asks you to complete a pre-employment health questionnaire

You may decide that you don’t want to tell a potential employer that you have Parkinson’s. This may be because:

you don’t feel comfortable telling people about your condition
you believe your symptoms won’t affect your ability to do the job
you feel that, at this time, the fact that you have Parkinson’s doesn’t make a difference to your working life

On the other hand, you may decide you’d rather tell a potential employer about your condition. This may be because:

you prefer it when others know about your condition
your symptoms are quite noticeable and you want to explain these at your interview
your symptoms are largely unnoticeable but you’re concerned that your employer might misinterpret them. For example, if your symptoms cause you to struggle with the role or any part of it, they may be mistaken for a problem with your general performance or ability to do the work
you’d like to reassure your employer that you can do the job, perhaps with reasonable adjustments (if you think you need them)

Take some time to decide what you think is best for you. You could think about your symptoms, the type of job you are applying for and your personal preferences. You may wish to discuss it with someone you trust.