The House of Lords recently agreed an amendment to the Equality Bill which will ban pre-employment health questionnaires. This could leave employers open to more claims of disability discrimination if they withdraw the job offer after finding out about a health condition; however employers would still be able to withdraw a job offer if a subsequent health questionnaire shows a candidate is not capable of doing the job and reasonable adjustments cannot be made to the workplace. This amendment needs to be voted on in the House of Commons before it can come into force.

The amendment to the Bill comes as national law firm, DLA Piper, is being sued for disability discrimination following the withdrawal of a job offer after the applicant disclosed in a telephone health questionnaire that she had a history of depression. The firm has denied that the withdrawal was related to the applicant's disability, claiming instead that it was due to a recruitment freeze.

The applicant's original claim was struck out in March last year as the tribunal ruled that she was not disabled. The case has been appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) where it is being heard by the president of the EAT due to the complexity of the issues at stake relating to the perception of a disability.