Negativity

is it just me or when your at a job interview and everything is great then you mention your a diabetic and you can see the look on the employers face as if you have just told him you have eaten his pet dog makes me sick everywhere i have worked i have always out performed and worked harder than the next person yet its always the same now a days and i am fed up of it
has anyone else come across the same problem

howlin316, DON'T tell them !

If you can't keep a secret tell them AFTER you have got the job, in a casual manner, preferably 1-2 years later.

I have been economical with the truth about my diabetes, and other ailments, drinking habits etc and never had a problem.
I worked for 30 years in the military as a contractor in the computer service industry. Although it has to be said that most, if not all, of my superiors were obsessed with the drink, and were only interested in results, i.e if I fixed the problem they could fly their planes again.

Superchip.....

You have to tell them as it is instant dismissal. The thing is there are a lot of people who have things they do not want to disclose especially to an employer. I know how you feel you get the job and you feel you have something that your employer would see as a problem, then you feel you have to work harder to keep your job. Diabetes is not the only thing that people feel would put off an employer, there are part time workers, carers, working parents and all these people feel they have to work that little bit harder as they feel they are seen as not been able to do the job as good as someone without their problems or responsibilities. I worked for twenty years, nineteen of those years as a working mother and seventeen of those years as a diabetic none of it was easy but I fought to make sure I was treated just like everyone else and I may have had to take medical retirement but while I was there I helped to show everyone I worked with that I could work just as hard if not harder than every one else. If you hide your diabetes then you are hiding a very important part of your self

I'm in very good health ATER 10 YEARS t2.
I recently read a piece which said that well controlled diabetics need not have impaired or shortened lives. I wish Icould find it again to ive out to the edoom mongers.
Mind you, I don't follow their dietary advice or Bg targets either :shock: I aim for NORMAL and unlike the medics, I know what that is.
Hana

Just another thing if we are not honest and try to change the minds of the employers nobody is going to do it for us. Sorry am going to get down off my soap box now.

Scoop4 - why do you think it's instant dismissal not to tell?

I agree if you receive a medical form asking you to fill it out and answer honestly then not doing so may be grounds for dismissal. But for the vast majority of jobs which are not impacted by diabetes (excluding emergency services or others where licences are needed which diabetics have trouble getting) then I don't see why you need to raise it at an interview. Diabetes counts as a disability and you are protected under disability discrimination but why put yourself in that position? I don't believe my type 1 diabetes affects my ability to do my job and therefore it is irrelevant to my employer and private to me. I disclose it on medical forms but they have only come after I've received my job offer at which point if it's withdrawn it would be direct discrimination.

Worked in employment for 20 years you have to disclose it because god forbid if any thing happens to you and you did not mention it. I agree diabetes is covered under the disability discrimination act any disability that effects your day to day living is covered. Can you imagine if you did not tell your employer and you had a hypo attack they wouldn't know what was happening how to help there is a reason why you are suppose to wear medical identification you may have stable diabetes never had an attack but you cannot guarantee how long it would go on for. Not all employers get medical questionnaires completed either at interview or after.

I've had numerous hypos at work and treated them all myself. I have never needed anyone else's assistance in those circumstances and resent people interfering as I'd rather get on and deal with it myself. I find most people a hindrance for all but coma type hypos as the last thing you want is to have to make conversation or have people flapping when you're effectively dealing with a hypo.

I still don't see why it would merit instant dismissal not to disclose the information unless you are operating some machinery or doing something else which would endanger yourself or others or having to deal with a situation which would place you in danger. I do an office based job with control over my hours and an ability to test and eat when I want to. Full details were given on my pre-employment questionnaire filed somewhere with HR but I only told 2 of my colleagues on 2 separate occasions when I was reasonably confident of their discretion and I felt it appropriate.

I can see your point of view and I also don't like people trying to help with hypo's but it is not a case of why it is a case of basic employability rights. You have certain rights as an employee but so does your employer and in those rights on both sides is full disclosure I am sure that if your employer kept things from you that were not in your contract you would not be very pleased. I know it' may not seem like the same thing but its all about employment law. No one can make you tell your employer but I just wanted to point out what can happen. Employment is a contract between employer and employee and if information is missed out on either side then the contract is no longer valid so you are no longer employed. Not everything has to make sense it is. If everything made sense there would be a reason why I became diabetic but there isn't I just am.

What rights of full disclosure are you referring to?

There is no duty to disclose information to your employer unless it affects your employment. If you do not want your employer to know you have children or asthma, you do not need to tell them providing it doesn't affect your responsibilities, your health and safety and you do not claim any of your statutory rights in relation to this. If you want to keep these matters private that is your choice.

Yes you lose your right to claim under the Equalities Act if your employer is unaware of your diabetes due to your failure to disclose (although a pre-employment questionnaire covers this) but that is not grounds for instant dismissal.

A fundamental breach of trust could be considered gross misconduct and merit dismissal but whether a failure to disclose diabetes would constitute this would depend very much on what your job is and its requirements. In addition, instant dismissal without due process would be a very dangerous thing for employers to do in these circumstances. Where it is peripheral to the job(which I believe my well-controlled diabetes is to a professional office job) then an employer would have a hard time claiming it is a fundamental breach of trust to not inform all my colleagues of my diabetes. Again this does depend on the type of job you do, its flexibility and the state of your diabetes. I have never had a problem taking time off for hospital appointments. Equally I often end up working in the evenings because of work. I have never had a problem testing or eating at my desk. Equally I often end up working through lunch.

Listen this is turning into a debate on employment rights and I'm not interested I don't work in that area anymore. Your diabetes is your concern and I am glad you don't have any of the many problems a lot of other diabetics have but you must disclose your health conditions to your employer as things change especially with diabetes. A case of dismissal that would not be classed as unfair would employee conduct and by not disclosing a health condition as serious as diabetes you could breaching health and safety regulations, they could also view it as dishonest. I have see people being dismissed for failing to disclose correct exam results and other thing like why they were dismissed from previous employer it didn't matter if they were good at what they did or were better than every one else it was not disclosed so they were dismissed. Like I said diabetes does not stay the same things can go wrong illness, body changes that kind of thing and worse still all the things they say won't happen if you look after your self and keep your diabetes in control can still happen.