How Many Pre-Employment Medical Exams Does the ADA Permit?

The Americans with Disabilities Act applies a traffic-light approach to employer-mandated medical exams.

• Red Light (prior to an offer of employment): the ADA prohibits all disability-related inquiries and medical examinations, even those that are job related. 
• Yellow Light (after employment begins): an employer only may make disability-related inquiries and require medical examinations that are job-related and consistent with business necessity.
• Green Light (after an applicant is given a conditional job offer, but before s/he starts work): an employer may make any disability-related inquiries and conduct medical examinations, regardless of whether they are related to the job, as long as it does so for all entering employees in the same job category.

The [ADA’s] regulation refers to “[m]edical examinations” in the plural. More saliently, McDonald cites no authority interpreting the ADA to prohibit more than one pre-employment medical examination. [Equal Employment Opportunity Commision] guidance expressly provides that an employer may request “more medical information … if the follow-up examinations or questions are medically related to the previously obtained medical information.” … Webasto required a second medical examination only after the first revealed a history of “[l]umbar bulging discs.”