Disability Discrimination in Hiring in New York: Applications, Interviews, Medical Exams and Withdrawn Offers

Disability discrimination law applies before you are hired. Under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an employer may not discriminate against a qualified individual on the basis of disability in job application procedures or hiring.⁠^[6] New York State and New York City law also bar application forms and pre-employment inquiries that express a limitation or discrimination as to disability; the State statute has an exception for a bona fide occupational qualification.⁠^[2][7]

The rules change at one moment in the process: the conditional job offer. This page follows an application from the job posting to the first day of work. Rules for people who already have the job are in can my employer ask about my medical condition.

Before and after the offer: the three layers compared

Stage	Federal law (ADA)	New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL)	New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL)
Questions about disability before an offer	No inquiries about whether an applicant has a disability or about its nature or severity.⁠[1]	No application form or pre-employment inquiry that expresses a limitation, specification or discrimination as to disability, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification; the regulation bars pre-employment inquiries about the existence of a disability or need for accommodation.⁠[2]	The NYC Commission on Human Rights says application forms that include inquiries about an applicant's disability may violate the City law.⁠[7]
Questions about ability to do the job	Allowed: inquiries into the applicant's ability to perform job-related functions.⁠[1]	The State regulation measures the job by its essential functions, those fundamental to the position.⁠[8]	The Commission says it generally is not unlawful to ask whether an applicant can perform the essential requisites of the job, with or without an accommodation.⁠[3]
Medical exam before an offer	Not allowed.⁠[1]	The State statute bars an employer from requiring a genetic test as a condition of employment or pre-employment application, with a narrow exception.⁠[9]	The Commission says requiring a medical exam, inquiry or test before a conditional offer generally violates the City law.⁠[3]
Medical exam after a conditional offer	Allowed if all entering employees are examined regardless of disability and the results are kept as a confidential medical record.⁠[4]	The employee has a right to have medical information provided for an accommodation kept confidential.⁠[10]	The Commission says an exam is permissible only if required by law or applied consistently to all prospective employees.⁠[3]
Which employers	Employers with 15 or more employees.⁠[11]	All employers within the state.⁠[12]	Generally, employers with four or more persons in their employ.⁠[13]

Job postings and application forms

Under New York State law, an employer may not use an application form or make an inquiry in connection with prospective employment that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to disability or predisposing genetic characteristics, unless it is based on a bona fide occupational qualification.⁠^[14] The same subdivision covers printed or circulated statements and advertisements.⁠^[14]

In New York City, the Commission on Human Rights says application forms that include inquiries about an applicant's disability may violate the City law, but an application may include a "yes or no" question about the applicant's ability to perform essential job duties with or without an accommodation.⁠^[7] The Commission adds a point about format: offering an application in only one format, such as an electronic form only, may also violate the City law because it can limit accessibility, and the employer should be prepared to offer alternative ways to apply.⁠^[7]

Interviews: what can and cannot be asked

Under federal law, the line is between the person's medical condition and the person's ability to do the job. An employer may not ask an applicant whether they have a disability or about its nature or severity.⁠^[1] It may make pre-employment inquiries into the applicant's ability to perform job-related functions, and the EEOC regulation allows it to ask an applicant to describe or demonstrate how, with or without reasonable accommodation, the applicant will perform them.⁠^[1][15]

Under New York State law, the Division of Human Rights' regulation says the employer "must not make pre-employment inquiries with regard to the existence of a disability or need for accommodation."⁠^[2]

In New York City, the Commission says that while it may be unlawful for an employer to ask a job applicant if he has a disability, it generally is not unlawful to ask whether he can perform the essential requisites of the job, with or without an accommodation.⁠^[3]

What counts as an essential function is its own question. Under the ADA, the employer's judgment is considered, and a written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing is evidence of the essential functions.⁠^[16] Essential functions are the fundamental duties of the position, not marginal ones.⁠^[17]

Accommodations during the application process

The duty to accommodate does not wait for the first day of work.

• Federal law. The EEOC's ADA regulation defines reasonable accommodation to include modifications or adjustments to a job application process that enable a qualified applicant with a disability to be considered for the position.⁠^[18] The ADA also treats it as discrimination to deny a job opportunity because of the need to make a reasonable accommodation.⁠^[19]
• New York State law. It is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to refuse to provide reasonable accommodations to the known disabilities of a prospective employee in connection with a job sought.⁠^[20]
• New York City law. The Commission says employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations for applicants during the interview process and to engage in the cooperative dialogue and provide reasonable accommodations during pre-employment testing.⁠^[7][21]

The steps for asking are in how to request a reasonable accommodation, and the City's dialogue rule is in the interactive process and cooperative dialogue.

Tests, qualification standards and screening tools

Under the ADA, discrimination includes using qualification standards, employment tests or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability, unless the standard, test or criterion, as used by the employer, is shown to be job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.⁠^[5] The statute makes it a defense that the standard has been shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity and that performance cannot be accomplished by reasonable accommodation.⁠^[5]

The NYC Commission on Human Rights states the City rule with a different yardstick: employers cannot use qualification standards, tests or other selection criteria that intentionally or unintentionally screen out persons with disabilities unless the criterion, as used by the employer, bears a significant relationship to a significant business objective.⁠^[21]

The Commission's December 2025 guidance also addresses hiring technology. It says covered entities are responsible for the decisions of artificial intelligence systems and other technology they use, and may not avoid liability by asserting that the discrimination was caused by technology rather than human decision-making.⁠^[21]

Safety-based standards have their own rule. The ADA lets an employer require that an individual not pose a direct threat, meaning a significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation, and the EEOC regulation calls for an individualized assessment of the person's present ability to perform the essential functions safely.⁠^[22] The New York State regulation defines a direct threat as a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the employee or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.⁠^[23]

Medical exams and drug tests after a conditional offer

Under federal law, once an offer has been made and before work begins, an employer may require a medical examination and may condition the offer on the results, on two conditions: all entering employees are examined regardless of disability, and the information is collected and maintained on separate forms and in separate medical files and treated as a confidential medical record.⁠^[4] Supervisors may be told of necessary work restrictions and accommodations, and first aid and safety personnel may be told if emergency treatment might be needed.⁠^[4]

In New York City, the Commission says a medical exam, inquiry or test after a conditional offer is permissible only if required by law or applied consistently to all prospective employees.⁠^[3] It advises employers to keep any medical information they obtain confidential and in separate medical files.⁠^[24]

Drug tests are treated differently from medical exams. Under the ADA, a test to determine the illegal use of drugs is not considered a medical examination, and the New York State regulation says such a test is not to be considered a medical test.⁠^[25][26] New York State law separately bars employers from requiring a genetic test as a condition of employment or pre-employment application, subject to a narrow exception.⁠^[9] Cannabis and recovery raise their own questions, covered in addiction, alcoholism and medical cannabis at work.

When an offer is withdrawn

A post-offer exam does not give an employer a free hand with the results.

• Federal law. The EEOC regulation says a post-offer examination does not itself have to be job-related, but if criteria are used to screen out a person with a disability as a result of the examination, the exclusionary criteria must be job-related and consistent with business necessity, and performance of the essential job functions cannot be accomplished with reasonable accommodation.⁠^[27]
• New York State law. The Court of Appeals said in 1985 that an employer cannot deny employment simply because a condition has been detected before it has begun to produce harmful effects; in that case the offer was conditioned on a pre-employment medical examination and the employer refused to hire after the examining physician's finding.⁠^[28][29] In employment, the State definition of disability is limited to disabilities that, with reasonable accommodation, do not prevent the person from performing the job's activities in a reasonable manner.⁠^[30]
• New York City law. The Commission says that even an exam given after a conditional offer may be unlawful if it is used to screen out applicants with disabilities where the exclusionary criteria are not job-related and consistent with business necessity and the essential job requisites could be performed with a reasonable accommodation.⁠^[24]

If the employer's stated reason is that an accommodation would cost too much, the question becomes undue hardship, which is covered in undue hardship in New York. Under the City law the employer has the burden of proving undue hardship.⁠^[31]

Do you have to disclose a disability when you apply?

In New York City, the Commission says it is unlawful to take an adverse action against someone who does not volunteer information about a disability or a need for accommodation when applying for a job, and it gives terminating an employee for failing to disclose a disability before receiving the offer as an example of a violation.⁠^[32] That is the Commission's statement about the City law.

Disclosure matters when you want an accommodation. Under the New York State regulation, the employee must make the disability and the need for accommodation known and cooperate in providing medical or other information necessary to verify the disability or consider the accommodation.⁠^[10] Under the City law, the accommodation duty applies where the disability is known or should have been known by the employer.⁠^[33]

Applicants who are only perceived as disabled

The federal ADA covers a person regarded as having an impairment, the State definition includes a condition regarded by others as an impairment, and the City law covers perceived disability.⁠^[34][30][35] See perceived disability and association discrimination.

Practical notes

• Applicants: save the job posting, the application as submitted and any written questions you were asked.
• Applicants: if you need a change to the interview or a test, ask in writing and keep the reply.
• Applicants: if an offer is withdrawn, write down the date, who told you and the reason given.
• Employers: review job descriptions before posting, since under the ADA a written description prepared before advertising or interviewing is evidence of the essential functions.⁠^[16]
• Filing periods differ by law and by agency; see New York employment claim deadlines.