Q: Is it a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act) violation for your employer to ask for your diagnosis on your excused absence letter from your physician? – Jan, Texas
A: No, for several reasons. Speaking very generally, however, HIPAA’s privacy provisions prohibit your medical provider from releasing information about your health condition to any entity without your permission, except as the law otherwise permits. If your employer asks for a diagnosis then, your health care provider will release that information if you consent. If you do not consent to release that information, the employer will not receive that information.
HIPAA aside, employers are often limited in what they can ask employees regarding health care and diagnoses by other laws. For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act typically permits employers to ask for information about your health only if they need that information to determine whether you are able to safely perform the essential functions of a particular position, or to determine if you are need of a reasonable accommodation. In the latter case, if you decline to release the information, the employer may not be obligated to offer you an accommodation, or perhaps not grant the accommodation you seek.
The Family and Medical Leave Act limits an employer’s acquisition of employee health information in other ways, although here again some information necessary to establish that a covered employee has a “serious health condition” must be provided for the employee to enjoy the protections of that law.
