Navigating Hiring Policies: Can Candidates with Behavioral Disorders Be Legally Rejected?

Understanding Hiring Policies for Candidates with Behavioral Disorders

Greetings to all! I wanted to understand an organization's policy towards hiring a candidate with some behavioral disorder. If this disorder doesn't affect their job tasks as an employee, can an organization hire such a candidate?

Legal Considerations for Hiring Candidates with Disorders

Is there any law pertaining to the rights of such individuals where an interview panel might reject them, even if they are technically sound but have issues like an anxiety disorder or mood disorders? How will an organization handle this with respect to employee groups and its overall success?

Dear Lalit, there are various types of mental disorders. From which type of disorder is the candidate suffering?

Customer Interaction Concerns

Will this position come in direct contact with the customers? Will the customer complain because of the abnormal behavior of the employee?

Job Performance Requirements

Every job requires accuracy, precision, and reliability of the employee, etc. Will this employee demonstrate these qualities?

Safety and Anxiety Concerns

In the face of anxiety, will the employee create any harm?

Gender and Safety Considerations

Is the candidate male or female? If the former, then will the women employees be safe from him?

Please consider all the above points and then take a decision.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Hi, Lalit. I understand that mental disorders are now becoming more common. If the employee is able to function without it affecting their performance, then treat them equally. If, in the future, the employee displays any signs or if there are situations adverse to "ideal" work situations for this particular category of employees, encourage a tie-up with a corporate counselor or psychologists who may be able to assist the employee in their tough times. Stress happens at various degrees, and as humans, we are subjected to different stress levels. Everyone has a different capacity to deal with it, but everyone also deserves respect.

Examples of how companies support employees with mental disorders

Few examples of how companies in various sectors have helped such employees:

- One well-known Indian textile MNC has enlisted a few employees on payroll who displayed a history of mental disorders. They provided them with light work profiles and helped them shape a career for themselves. (This was between 2010-15, before the pandemic.)

- A startup in Bangalore has enlisted two such people dealing with insomnia and anxiety. One of them is on medication, and the other is under counseling. Both are considered assets and work as full-time employees for the media startup. Sometimes, they are given time off if they display erratic stress levels, which is not done purposefully. They are then exempted from attending the office on those days. (This is recent, from this year.)

Hope this helps.

Hiring a candidate with a behavioral disorder is acceptable, provided you are convinced that the candidate possesses the required skills. It is advisable to hire them on a trial basis or a 'Fixed-term contract' basis, allowing you to assess their performance skills. Teamwork and adjustment to work pressure can be monitored.

A direct reply,

No, there is no law in India that protects such persons from being rejected for employment in a private enterprise. In a government job, the rules may be different.

If he already has a job, he can be removed only after an inquiry and hearing, where it is proved that his mental illness affects the job or endangers others in the organization.