Can you buy an AR15 in Maryland?

NOTE: This post was updated in 2019 with current information regarding Maryland gun laws.

After a mass shooting, attention is focused on the availability of the weapon used. Most times that weapon is a semi-automatic, assault style, rifle. How did the person obtain the weapon and why is it available to public, are the questions usually asked. As you probably have figured out gun laws in the U.S. are convoluted. Laws on gun possession and sale differ from state to state. Too many to try to explain in a single post. For this blog the question raised is-Can you buy an AR15 in Maryland? The short answer is no.

However, the weapon used in the Dayton, Ohio shooting could be sold in Maryland. The Anderson Manufacturing .223 caliber AM-15 used by the Dayton shooter is currently not approved for sale by the Handgun Roster Board (See Guns approved for sale in Maryland below). But a similar gun, the .300 caliber AM-15 is approved for sale in Maryland. A "loophole" to Maryland's assault weapons ban. 

Assault style weapons

The federal government and some states have strict laws regarding the regulation and availability of fully automatic weapons or machine guns. What is more readily available are assault style weapons that are similar to what the military uses but in a semi-automatic capacity (firing one bullet and automatically reloading with each depression of the trigger). “AR15” is a type of civilian rifle modeled after what the U.S. military issues. Although it is a specific product the name is also used incorrectly to identify a wider variety of assault style weapons. When, in fact, there are many different manufacturers and models.

The Federal government banned semi-automatic assault style weapons in 1994. However, the ban expired in 2004 and those guns became legal for sale once again. Maryland banned the sale of what is defined as an “assault rifle” or ”assault long gun” in the Firearm Safety Act of 2013. The types of weapons included are what are commonly known as “AR15”s and all variants or copies. However, persons that legally possessed these types of weapons prior to October 1, 2013 could continue to possess them. They just couldn’t be sold within the state.

The Maryland State Police is tasked with regulating firearm sales in Maryland. This link, Maryland State Police Firearm Search, explains what can and cannot be possessed and sold. Other states with bans on the sale of assault style rifles are: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia.

Guns approved for sale in Maryland

In addition to regulating the sale of firearms, Maryland law also determines what guns can and cannot be sold in the State. Handguns manufactured after 1985 can only be sold in Maryland if the Handgun Roster Board has specifically approved it for sale and placed it on the Official Handgun Roster. The Handgun Roster Board is part of the Maryland State Police and consists of eleven members-The Secretary of the State police and ten people appointed by the Governor for terms of four years.

You may search manufacturers to determine if a handgun is on the handgun roster and legal for sale in Maryland thru this link.  Handgun Roster search

Waiting periods

Waiting periods and firearm sale laws are also being discussed in the news. Maryland has some of the strictest firearm laws in the country. 1995, 2000, and 2013 saw major legislation packages passed that restricted the sale and types of firearms that could be sold in Maryland. Even before that, in 1966, Maryland was one of the first states to pass legislation regarding waiting periods for purchasing handguns. Since 1966, a firearm dealer must wait seven days before the gun may be transferred to the purchaser. During this time, the Maryland State Police conducts it’s background check of the prospective purchaser. The Responsible Gun Safety Act of 2000 expanded the waiting period and background checks to include the private sale of handguns between individuals.

Only nine states and the District of Columbia currently have waiting periods-California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. Waiting periods for gun sales received a boost on February 20, 2018 when the Supreme Court dismissed a 2^nd Amendment challenge to California’s 10-day waiting period as a “reasonable safety” precaution.

Please feel free to share this post. See the blog archive for more information on buying guns in Maryland.

How to buy a gun in Maryland January 2017

Synopsis of Maryland gun laws

Maryland gun laws 

The Federal government and each state all have different firearm laws. States do not necessarily have reciprocity. What is permitted in your home state may be a felony in another state. Here is a synopsis of Maryland’s firearm laws based on common concerns. 

·     Maryland has been regulating handguns with background checks and requiring a seven-day waiting period since 1966. Firearms designated as “regulated” (handguns and 45 enumerated rifles) require background checks and a waiting period for being transferred. This includes private sales as well.Shotguns and some rifle sales are not regulated by the State and therefore require no State level background check. 

·     Sales and transfers between private citizens and at gun shows are regulated by the State and require a background check and seven-day wait before transferring.

·     Gun buyers must possess a license before purchasing a firearm, which includes a firearm training course

·     One handgun purchase is allowed every thirty days

·     All new handguns manufactured after January 1, 2003 must include an integrated mechanical safety device

·     Red Flag Law-Enables families and law enforcement to ask courts for an order to temporarily restrict firearms from people found to be a risk t themselves or others. 

·     Assault rifles or “AR15” variants are prohibited from sale

·     Bump stocks are banned in Maryland

·     Convicted domestic abusers are required to surrender guns to law enforcement or a firearms dealer. Law enforcement is permitted to remove firearms from the scene of an alleged act of domestic violence

·     Ammunition: If a person is prohibited from possessing firearms they are prohibited from possessing ammunition

·     Child access- A person may not store or leave a loaded firearm in a location where an unsupervised child may gain access

·     Concealed carry is prohibited unless issued a concealed carry permit regulated by the State

·     Transportation- A person may transport a firearm in a vehicle if unloaded and in an enclosed case or enclosed holster-to and from the place of purchase or repair; shooting range; sporting activities; hunting; dog training.

See also:

How to buy a gun in Maryland?

Can you buy an AR15 in Maryland?

ATF’s list of State laws and ordinances

Cleaning Up Your Online Presence

Ever been asked at checkout for your phone number? You haven’t been in the store for a long time, if ever by your recollection, but the clerk wants to know if you’re in the system. You provide a phone number and surprise surprise you are in there! Phone number, name, and address. It’s probably not a retail conspiracy to create a super database of shared data. What it does reveal is how our lives and personal data are intertwined within the world of information.

When information was written on paper there was less of it and it was more fragile. Tear it up, burn it, poof it’s gone. Carbon paper, mimeographs, and copy machines (Younger readers will have to look those up) changed that. Documents were being copied and filed in triplicate. Computers, of course, made it all easier but it wasn’t until the ol’ World Wide Web came along that hiding in plain sight became difficult.

In the old days it was easy to disappear. You simply moved to another town. Started using a new name and slowly built your new persona. As technology progressed information began being stored on computers. Those computers could be accessed for information stored about you, but only for the specific information the entity had stored. Once computers became connected one entity could access another’s information. Then they began sharing information between each other and saving the data locally. The more digitally involved you are the bigger your online presence. As young people enter adulthood they have little to no digital footprint in the context of financial databases. What they do have is a social footprint, more on that later.

Google yourself

Have you ever searched your name? If not, give it a try. You might be surprised what pops up or how many of you are out there. The more you are in the public eye the more information that is going to be out there and, thus, the harder to clean up your online presence. A regular Joe should have limited occurrences as the result of a search. But even regular Joe’s can have an online presence depending on their interaction with social sites and images associated to their name. And that is what you need to be controlled.

Information for sale

Think about the seed system of a watermelon. You can take out a portion from the middle, but there are going to be all those strands extending throughout the melon. That is how it is in the digital world. Things truly do live forever on the Internet. You can have a record expunged from a database, but any reference to or sharing of that record in other databases is going to give it new life. Data has become a big commodity. Everything is for sale on the Internet. Data is being collected on every interaction you have on the Internet. The data collected by brick and mortar businesses is sought after. Once government databases went online (real estate, court information, etc) information brokers snatched up this data. All of this information is bought and sold and resold. The original purveyor of the data may have deleted it but the new entity has it saved and published it their own way.

Everyone that has data is looking for revenue sources, especially governments. Data mining companies buy data from phone companies (landline and wireless) and the government (real property and court records). The information is legitimately offered for sale on the Internet through pay sites or resold. Ever get those mailings and wonder how Joe Realtor knows how long you’ve lived in your house and what you can sell it for?

Your Job image

Younger people may not be in databases for real estate or financial institutions but they are using social media and sharing the media. Even someone with little life experience will pop up in a simple Google search, most likely under images. This is what haunts the 20-somethings when they start their job searches. Over the last few years’ different surveys have revealed that 40% of college admission offices and 40% of HR professionals research social media regarding applicants. Staying aware of your online presence is especially import when trying for a job.

Cleaning up online presence

You’re first step should be stop the flow of information. Review and change your social media privacy settings. Remove information from online shopping and other accounts that are old or unnecessary.

Whether it’s the garage, the basement, or the Internet before starting any clean up job you have to assess the situation. Start by searching your name and then different variations with your name, town, occupation, and any other identifier that you feel has a strong attachment to your name. Would suggest using Google as it is the most powerful, but using other search engines wouldn’t hurt. You’ll probably get different results.

Make note of the sites in which you pop up and what they are referencing. Find the source of the material you want removed and contact the source directly. Many will want sound reasoning why the post/picture should be removed. May want to read the companies privacy statements before you make the call to know where you stand and/or how to make the request.

Even though the source removes the post once it has been shared it lives on in other sites. You’ll have to track the posts digital trail and contact those companies as well. The tedious part is finding every link that’s associated with your name and going through the process each time. As with any situation where you are fighting an issue Document Document Document. Keep copious notes of your efforts in case you need to prove your attempts later or make subsequent requests.

After all that you are still going to be able to “find yourself” on government public access sites like real property and courts. People search sites and phone number search sites sell the information you are trying to keep private. Matters of public record like newspaper articles in which you’ve been mentioned are going to pop up.

To get your name removed from marketing lists there are organizations that can help. Similar to the national do not call registry, these services allow consumers to opt of marketing offers. You would be adding your name to another database, which may be counterproductive to what you’re trying to accomplish, but it does keep marketers from contacting you. Maybe. Who knows if it really works?

One such service is run by the Direct Marketing Association and allows consumers to have their names and addresses removed from direct marketing mailing lists. There is a fee-$2 for 10 years if you register online. The site can be found at www.dmachoice.org. The second removes the consumer from credit card and insurance offers. The service is provided in a joint venture between Experian, Equifax, Innovis, and Transunion. The site can be found at www.optoutprescreen.com.

You won’t be able to eradicate everything. If you’re serious about removing yourself from the Internet you’ll have to have as much as possible redacted. The rest will have to get buried in the voluminous amount of data filling the Internet. The less that is out there the more specific the search will have to be to find you. Not gone but harder to find.

Your personal information may be in myriad retail databases but at least you can try to keep what others read about you to a minimum. You can’t just completely disappear but can clean up your online presence so that you’re not easily searched.

See our blog archive for more posts about online presence.

Should social media rants get you fired? March 2017

Social media checks July 2016

Convicted? Never convicted October 2014

Frequently Asked Questions

During my time providing investigative services to businesses the same questions regarding pre employment screenings and background checks were repeatedly asked. To address those questions, we developed a list of frequently asked questions, which are shared below. I hope this will help answer questions you may have and guide you through the hiring process.

·      What are an employer’s legal obligations?

• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). As of October 1, 1997 the FCRA requires that all employers who request background checks for pre employment screening purposes have a written consent from the applicant. 
• Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII. Employers cannot reject or fire qualified individuals who have criminal records when the criminal history has no bearing on the individual’s fitness or ability to perform the job.
•  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC. The EEOC is clear in its position on employers’ use of criminal background checks for employee hiring and retention: “Using such records as an absolute measure to prevent an individual from being hired could limit the employment opportunities of some protected groups and thus cannot be used in this way.”
• National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was enacted in 1935. The Act allows for the National labor Relations Board to enforce laws that give employees the right to act together for improved pay and working conditions, even if they are not part of a union. 

·      What is a “National” record check?

• We were always asked to conduct national criminal record checks. This request is difficult to explain because most people’s perception of the criminal justice system is marred by television. Simply put, there is no “national” database that houses criminal records. Records of arrests and adjudications are kept at the local courthouses and county jurisdictions. Conducting a non-law enforcement national background check would be better said as a “nationwide” check. To obtain a thorough picture of a person’s criminal past, all levels of government entities maintaining criminal records should be searched. Read our post "National" record checks, which further explains the subject.

If there is no national database, how do you get the most detailed information?

• Look for companies that search both public and commercial databases within the Federal, State, and County jurisdictions. Analyzing the information to ensure the utmost accuracy for your screenings.

·      What is “Ban the box”?

• Ban the box is national grassroots movement to remove the question, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime” from employment applications. Many State and local jurisdictions have passed laws removing the question from government employment applications.

·      What is Bright line hiring?

•  “Bright line” is a clearly defined rule or standard, generally used in law, composed of objective factors, which leaves little or no room for varying interpretation. The purpose of a bright-line rule is to produce predictable and consistent results in its application. 
• A Bright line hiring example would be to not hire someone with a criminal record. Bright line hiring practices are dangerous for any business, as you may have violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or EEOC guidelines.

·      Can expunged records be located?

• Sometimes. The legal term “expunged” has different definitions in different states. Some allow for the records to be sealed and treat the case as it never happened. Some change the conviction to “dismissed”, but the other details of the case are the same. In Maryland, it means to remove from public inspection. 
• Although records are expunged, they are filed somewhere.  Third party vendors purchase data from government entities before records are expunged. They then resell that data. Although records get expunged, they remain active through third party vendors.

·      Why should I do pre employment checks?

• Avoid the expense of making a bad hire. Bad hires can cost as much as three times the salary of the job in question
•  Reduce liability: Putting current employees at risk by placing a violent person in the workplace.
• Find those with a propensity for violence. Workplace violence has been found to make up 18% of all crime.
•  Reduce of workplace accidents
•  Reduce resume puffing. One-third of resumes have some degree of puffery
•  Aid the applicant. During the process other names associated with the applicants’ social security number are regularly discovered. This information may help the applicant thwart identity theft.

·      Why can’t I just do checks myself?

• You can and many do. The Internet is a very powerful tool. The questions are: Do you have time? Do you know where to look? Do you know how to decipher the information you do find? Are you sure you are looking at the correct person?

See our blog archive and topic categories for more on this topic.

How well do you know someone? March 2017

Social Media Checks July 2016

FCRwhat? March 2015

Just checking local Internet records not enough December 2014

Convicted? Never convicted. October 2014

Have you ever been convicted of a crime? February 2014

What is the price of not doing a background check July 2013

"National" record checks April 2013

Ban the box

How well do you know someone?

Watching the vetting process for the new presidential cabinet you heard politicians and others vouching for the nominees.  They would qualify their knowledge of the person’s background by stating how long they’ve known the person, “I’ve known this person for five years.” Really? Five whole years?

There is the possibility that you can really get to know someone in a short span of time. But it is highly unlikely, especially if you’re not with the person 24/7. There have been incidents of husbands and wives, who have been married for more than a decade, not knowing of the others “secret” life. So how can you vouch for a person, you have known for five years, and periodically interact with? If your “friend” is forty and you’ve known them for five, or even ten years, that seems like an eternity. However, they’ve had twenty-two years of adulthood before you ever met them.

Then you have the now cliché neighbor of a crime suspect, “[He’s] always been a good neighbor. Quiet. Never bothered anyone.” Chances are the neighbor is basing their assessment on fact. They never really knew the suspect so, of course, they were quiet and never bothered anyone.

If a background investigator has ever contacted you regarding an investigation for a security clearance how well you know someone can become shockingly evident. People obtaining security clearances fill out a questionnaire, part of which includes references. These references have to be non-work, friends and neighbors. Sometimes you have no idea why your name was used. You hardly know the person. But sometimes the investigation is for someone you’ve “known” for ten or more years (Most backgrounds require the reference to be a person you’ve known for five or more). But you don’t hang out with them, you don’t interact socially, you lose touch. But here is your name as a reference. The investigator starts asking the standard questions and you realize that although you’ve known this person since college, you cannot provide one piece of information that can verify anything about the person’s proclivity for cheese or espionage.

So to stand before a congressional committee and state that, “I’ve known this person for five years and they have absolutely the best character”, is little bit of a stretch.

See our blog archive for other posts relating to character association: 

Don’t want to know July 24, 2013

Have you ever been convicted of a crime February 3, 2014

How to buy a gun in Maryland

Note: This post was originally published on January 28, 2016 and has been updated with new information.

Buying a handgun (regulated firearm) in Maryland just got easier, at least the process is easier. The Firearm Safety Act of 2013 added steps to the purchase process, but it also included language that the Maryland State Police must create an electronic purchase application that can be submitted online. Beginning January 1, 2017, all handgun purchase applications must be submitted through the Maryland State Police Licensing Portal.

Handgun purchase history

The impetus to first write this post in January 2016 was in response to a friend’s question as to how to buy a handgun in Maryland. The question may seem silly coming from an avid hunter who owns firearms of all kinds and has purchased handguns in the past. But, if you haven’t bought a handgun in the last three years Maryland laws changed in 2013 and the process is quite different than it has been for the last twenty years.

You haven’t been able to go into a gun store in Maryland and walk out with a handgun for fifty years. In 1966, Maryland enacted laws that required a background check and a seven-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns. The purchaser completed a personal questionnaire and the form was submitted to the Maryland State Police (MSP) to conduct the background check. If you cleared the check, and seven days had passed, the store could transfer the gun to the buyer. That part of purchasing a gun hadn’t changed for a generation of gun buyers, until 2000.

The Responsible Gun Safety Act of 2000 added the requirement that purchasers must complete a firearms safety class prior to purchasing a gun. The buyer still completed the forms, which were submitted to the MSP for a background check, and waited seven days, but before the buyer could obtain the gun they had to complete a certified firearms safety-training course.

Purchase Process

The process changed most recently in 2013. The Firearm Safety Act of 2013 added another step to the purchasing process. A prospective buyer must now possess a Handgun Qualification License (HQL). As part of the HQL application process the buyer must submit to a fingerprint background check, submit an application for a HQL to the MSP, and complete a four-hour Firearms Safety Training Course presented by a State approved instructor. The HQL is good for ten years and costs $50. However, the application cannot be submitted without digital fingerprints, the cost of which vary by vendor and is in addition to the HQL fee.

Also included in the Firearm Safety Act of 2013 was the requirement that the MSP create an electronic application. Purchase applications will no longer be submitted on paper forms via the firearms dealer. The prospective purchaser will submit applications through the Maryland State Police Licensing Portal. All the fees remain the same, including the $10 application fee, which is paid at the time of the application submission. If the purchaser does not have access to a computer, Internet, or credit card, the application may be submitted through a firearms dealers’ on site portal. The online application goes directly to MSP and removes the dealer for the submission process.

Now to answer the question-How to buy a handgun in Maryland?  Another four pages could be written, but to be succinct, the prospective buyer must complete the following process.

1. Obtain digital fingerprints
2. Submit digital fingerprints to the MSP
3. Submit application to the MSP for HQL
4. Complete Firearms Safety Training Course
5. Receive HQL card
6.  Complete the online Application to purchase handgun through the MSP portal
7. Wait seven days
8. Go to the firearms dealer, supply the dealer with your last name as used on the application and the unique 77R-E application number
9. The Dealer logs into the MSP Licensing Portal and queries the system for the last name and application number combination provided
10.  If the application has be approved the dealer may transfer the gun

You now own a handgun. Of course, Maryland’s one gun a month law is still in effect. So if you desire to own another gun you have to wait thirty days. The subsequent purchases would be easier as you already have your HQL. You would only need to complete and submit the new application to the MSP and wait the seven days.

Of course, with any law there are exceptions. There are exceptions to the training component and to the need for a HQL. For more, the Maryland State Police, Licensing Division, provides a detailed explanation of the Handgun Qualification License process on it’s website.

From the Maryland State Police on September 18, 2020:

Beginning October 1, 2020, the MSP will discontinue printing Handgun Qualification License (HQL) Cards in their current form. 

All HQL applicants approved for an HQL, on or after October 1, 2020, will receive, via US mail, a paper HQL. For further information on the HQL, please visit the HQL page of the MSP website. 

HQL page 

MSP Licensing Portal

MSP Licensing Portal User’s guide

Social media checks

Background checks use to be associated with financial institutions during applications for loans. Now they are performed during job applications, college admissions, even dating sites. One of the most important parts of the background check is the character reference. References were historically performed by field investigators interviewing the person’s friends, neighbors, associates, coworkers, etc. This is still an integral part of checking someone’s references, but in today’s online all the time society, social media is fast becoming the standard.

Who’s looking?

Private employers are. Social media checks are now on the checklist during candidate research. HR hiring surveys estimate that more than half of employers search an applicant’s social media during the hiring process. The New York Post reported on January 29, 2016, that at least 40% of college admissions officers report they check applicants’ Facebook pages and other social media when weighing who should get accepted. A third say they Google applicants. Even professional sport franchises do their due diligence when deciding on draft picks. As part of the vetting process, social media of potential draftees are reviewed. With the media attention on football players gone wild in recent years, franchises are doing every thing they can to determine the character of the player they are drafting.

Now the federal government is getting into the game. Investigators will now be probing social media as part of background checks for security clearances. Seems far-fetched that federal investigators didn’t perform these checks in the past, but now it’s official. On May 13, 2016, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper signed a policy directive that allows investigators to collect publicly available social media information pertaining to the person whose background is being investigated. In a press release, Bill Evanina, Director of ODNI’s National Counterintelligence and Security Center stated, “We cannot afford to ignore this important open source in our effort to safeguard our secrets—and our nation’s security.” While federal investigators are prohibited from requiring or requesting applicants’ password information, they will be searching for publically accessible accounts.

Privacy concerns

States and the Federal government have responded in a challenging effort to protect citizens’ privacy and rights. Twenty-three states have enacted laws that prevent employers from requesting passwords to personal accounts to either apply for or keep a job. Maryland was the first state to enact such a law, which took effect on October 1, 2012. Maryland’s law states that employers may not require employees or applicants to disclose a user name, password or other means of accessing a private Internet site or electronic account.

The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regulate, monitor, and enforce employer misuse of social media during the hiring process. Since 2010, the NLRB has heard dozens of cases regarding employers infringing on employee rights through social media. Both the EEOC and the NLRB have issued guidance to employers regarding social media rights of employees.

Does your mother see your posts?

Whether you’re currently looking for job or suddenly need a clearance, you never know when a situation will surface that requires a background check, which will now more than likely include social media checks. As we are seeing, the trend is spreading beyond dating sites to employers, college admissions, pretty much anyone who wants to know more about who you are. A picture truly is worth a thousand words.

Getting a lot of ambiguous rejections? Check your social media posts.

Even social media posts from years ago can haunt you. During the 2016 NFL draft, a potential first round pick had his Twitter account hacked.  A years old video showing him allegedly smoking marijuana with a bong hit the web. As this sorted out, draft round after round passed. He eventually was chosen in the thirteenth round, costing him millions.

Because of the anonymity of the Internet, the narcissist in us all, and the instantaneous culture we have, social media seems to be a window into our daily lives. Not only what cat videos we find hilarious or what we’re eating and where, but social media goes a long way in determining who we are, the character of the person doing the posts. Now one could argue that it’s not how they really are, that they use social media as an alter ego. But over time, patterns do develop and the onus appears to be on the account holder to justify the veracity of their posts and not the reviewer.

A good rule of thumb is-If you wouldn’t want your mother to see it, then don’t post it.

See our blog archive for other posts relating to social media:

What’s your social media policy? March 22, 2016

Enforcing company policy May 8, 2015

Convicted? Never convicted. October 17, 2014

Health history discrimination

What an employer asks on employment applications regarding criminal history and how it is used, has long been scrutinized by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In recent years when an employer asks about criminal history has been at issue (Should the box be banned, February 4, 2013). Employers are also getting caught on health history questions, although the EEOC has been monitoring that form of discrimination for over twenty years.

EEOC and ADA

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, made it illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The EEOC was created in 1965 to enforce the Civil Rights Act but had to authority. In 1972, Congress gave the EEOC litigation enforcement authority. The American with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 and the EEOC was given enforcement authority over Title I of the Act, which includes the employment discrimination provisions. The ADA places restrictions on employers regarding asking job applicants to answer medical questions.

EEOC v. Grisham Farm Products, Inc.

In a recent case the EEOC, on March 22, 2016, filed suit in the United States District Court against Grisham Farm Products, Inc. alleging that its employment application violated the ADA. (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Grisham Farm Products, Inc. 16-cv-03105)

In the case, an applicant applied for a warehouse position at Grisham. The Grisham job application contained forty-three “yes or no” health related questions. The questions were similar to what would be seen on an initial doctor visit. The Grisham application inquired whether in the past ten years the applicant has had allergies, arthritis, bladder infections, eating disorders, gallstones, sexually transmitted diseases, etc. The application also inquired about prior hospitalizations, HIV infection, treatment for alcoholism, and whether the applicant consulted a doctor, chiropractor, therapist, or other health care provider in the past two years.

The application’s Health History section stated in large letters, “All questions must be answered before we can process your application”. The applicant did not answer all of the questions and telephoned Grisham Farm. A company representative said that if the health history section was not fully completed, it would not be accepted.

The EEOC claims that the applicant believed he did not have to reveal his medical history to any potential employer. The case is still in litigation.

Review your hiring process

Employers should be frequently reviewing their hiring process. They also need to follow EEOC decisions as these decisions occur frequently and affect the hiring process. As with questions regarding criminal history, there are parameters as to what health questions can be asked and when they can be asked. The EEOC is clear that pre-employment health inquiries can be made only after a conditional offer has been made, if the inquiries are made to all applicants for that job category, and the inquiries are job related and consistent with a business necessity.



May 9, 2016-The EEOC released it's latest guidance on leave as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act