When to Order a Pre-Placement Examination

Fair employment law prohibits pre-placement exams until after a bonified job offer has been made. Therefore, the pre-placement exam needs to be the last step prior to job placement. However, the exam should always be done prior to placing the applicant on the job.

We would recommend that the medical exam be scheduled as far in advance of the applicant's anticipated start date as possible. OHP will make every attempt to provide medical results in a timely manner. However, transmittal of the medical test results from the contractor to our staff may take up to two weeks. Thereafter, it could easily take a month for an applicant to comply with any requests for further information or personal medical records. While such delays are more likely to occur for applicants to arduous or safety positions, we encourage departments to schedule medical exams for all applicants well in advance of prospective start dates.

Due to the uncertainties regarding the results of a pre-placement examination, applicants should never be told to quit their current job until the hiring department has received the results of the medical exam and determined that any resulting restrictions can be accommodated.