Under the ADA, you can make disability-related inquiries or require a medical examination if you learn about an employee’s or applicant’s medical condition from another person. The information must be reliable, and it must create a reasonable belief that the medical condition will impair the employee as far as ability to perform essential job functions or posing a direct threat to others’ safety.

In assessing if information you learned from another person justifies asking disability-related questions or requiring a medical examination, consider the following:

The relationship of the employee to the person who is providing the information.
The alleged medical condition’s seriousness.
The possible motivation of the person providing the information.
How the person learned the information, for example directly from the employee in question or from someone else.
Other evidence that relates to the information’s reliability.

Although FEHA doesn’t address if you can act on information from another person, it does allow you to require examinations and inquiries that are job-related and consistent with business necessity. If reliable information from a third person raises issues about an employee’s ability to perform essential job functions, you could probably inquire about the alleged disability.

California’s disability regulations require employers to initiate the interactive process for reasonable accommodation if a third party informs the employer of such a need.1

1. 2 CCR sec. 11069(b)(2)

When Medical Exams and Inquiries Are Permitted

Medical Information From a Third Party

When Medical Exams and Inquiries Are Permitted