Jan. 3 (UPI) — The City of Miami Beach will offer medical and psychological exams for police officers later in the hiring process to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act after the Justice Department reached a settlement with the city on Wednesday.
After an investigation, the department found Miami Beach required police applicants to take their medical and psychological exams before or at the same time as physical agility drills. It also did the tests along with a review of education, criminal history and other information.
Under the new agreement, those tests will come at the end of the hiring process.
“Our settlement with the City of Miami Beach will ensure that police applicants know that they are being evaluated based on their skills and qualifications rather than their disability,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, requires employers to wait until a conditional job offer is tendered before it can ask about the applicant’s health or disability. That also includes the taking of medical or psychological exams.
“When medical considerations are isolated at the end of the application process, applicants may keep their personal medical information, including information about disability, private until the last stage of the hiring,” the agreement said.
“They may thereby avoid employer misconceptions that could bias the selection process early on. And when medical considerations are isolated, applications know when an employer revokes an offer based on medical information and may challenge the decision if they believe it was based on unlawful disability discrimination.”
