So do you have such medical conditions? If you are reluctant to say I may assume that you do... if you don't then why not say "no"? I see that there are two questions there: the health one and if you have other responsibilities

Any company that claims the law doesn't apply to them is not a good place to work.

@JoeStrazzere I am aware, but that's not what they said. Of course I may be misunderstanding OP and/or OP may have paraphrased.

“Is this an allowable question?” - Yes; A company can require an applicant be able to climb a ladder and swing a hammer without assistance and that would be a reasonable job requirement. That would mean that if you have some physical limitation, being unable to climb that ladder and swing a hammer, they would be able to legally disqualify you for that job. The example I am attempting to use would be a requirement to climb a ladder while building a house or building, which seems to match, the description you provided. Readable accommodations are not universal.

I would be curious whether the question in the application is specific enough. I'm not sure I can even think of a physical medical condition that doesn't directly or indirectly affect physical fitness (even if to a mild degree), and many mental conditions can affect alertness. It seems almost like a catch-all so they can get applicants to tell them about medical conditions they have no business asking about.

@NotThatGuy: In context, the implication is pretty obvious: You have to be able to do the work, or else the employer doesn't want to hire you. If someone with, say, a nosebleed, answered "no," it is highly unlikely that the employer would pull a "well, actually" on that candidate. Anyway, the employer should be providing "yes" and "no" checkboxes, and (ideally) they should not be giving the candidate any room to provide further explanations (because such explanations would create liability for the employer under the ADA and other legal theories).

I mean ... doesn't it occur to you that there may be a legitimate interest in them asking such question given the type of job? Why should they hire somebody for a job that they aren't physically capable of ??

"full-time dedication to a constant work schedule". That sounds scary. Do they expect you to be on call 24/7?

@Stef Maybe they expect on-call. Or maybe they have a 24-hour warehouse operation (a bit more common now due to people ordering things at midnight and expecting to see them on their doorstep at 8am) and want to know that, with reasonable advance notice (not necessarily "on-call") they can schedule employees for shifts on nights/weekends. If everyone is able to work any time (excepting vacation, sick time, religious holidays, etc.) then scheduling is a lot easier than if 30% of your employees won't ever work at night.

@manassehkatz-Moving2Codidact I'm not exactly getting a "with reasonable advance notice" vibe when I read the words "full-time dedication" and "constant work schedule".

@Stef I can't say that is the case here. But the relatively generic language covers the possibilities and it could be with reasonable advance notice. If I were applying, I'd ask for more details. But the question itself is reasonable.

IANAL but they are not asking you to divulge your medical history, they are asking for a simple yes/no answer. Do you have a condition that would prevent you from doing the job? Yes or no.

For the record, federal employment laws prohibiting discrimination against disability start at 15 employees so unless there are state laws with lower requirements, they aren't wrong. The answers below are correct that it's a moot point but they were correct when they said those laws don't apply to their 10-person business.

@BSMP Exactly. I was actually writing an answer pointing out exactly that when you commented. - haha

@Unfair-Ban In this case, they are actually correct. See BSMP's comment above and my answer for details.

"Bona Fide Occupational Qualification". They are asking a legal question, if you can physically do the job in question. They aren't asking about your condition, but if you can do the job without putting yourself or others at unnecessary risks. For example, someone who has unpredictable seizures probably shouldn't be on a ladder constantly or a truck driver.

@2rs2ts has the gist of it: You're not legally required to divulge any details, but they're not asking for details. They're telling you up-front that the position you're applying to will require you to perform such and such physical feats and asking you, as generically as possible, if you're physically capable of performing said feats.

@WesleyLong There's nothing fishy here. It's far easier (and less costly) to ask a question as part of the job application than to conduct a physical of each and every job applicant. And of course we don't know if a physical would eventually be required later in the process or not.

@Unfair-Ban Hopefully you got educated now. You are wrong.